NEW DELHI: Cautioning against a strident anti-China posture former NSA Shiv Shankar Menon has suggested in a recently prepared report on bilateral ties that India should not blindly opposed One Belt One Road strategy of Xi Jinping and rather seek to join it for better connectivity in the Asia-pacific region. The report further suggested that greater Chinese participation in India's e-commerce sector and common Sino-Indian position on US-led Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).The report exclusively made available to ET has been prepared by leading Delhi-based think-tanks Aspen Institute and Institute for Chinese Studies. A 24-member team of experts led by Menon prepared the report that also comprised former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, serving Indian diplomats, retired armed forces officers and senior members from academia. The report incidentally has been finalized close on the heels NSG plenary in Seoul where China singlehandedly blocked consensus on India’s membership.“India must re-examine its stand on China’s Belt and Road initiative (BRI). India’s participation in this project will result in improved connectivity within Asia and the Indo-Pacific littoral. It must be noted that the BRI is a collaborative and participatory initiative that focuses on greater connectivity through infrastructure development essentially and to begin with, financed by China. It is pertinent for India to participate in wide-ranging consultations with Beijing. A quid pro quo approach could be explored, whereby India commits to be the security provider for Chinese interests in the Indian Ocean region and China in turn does the same for Indian interests in East and South China seas ,” suggested the report prepared after several rounds of meetings.OBOR (One Belt One Road Initiative) is a huge project for China involving trillions of dollars across many countries with geo-political challenges. India so far has not endorsed the OBOR initiative, but given its credibility in the region, India's participation could help reduce the geopolitical tensions and bring in other multilateral institutions to support and promote the connectivity projects, the report felt.The Modi government has expressed reservations in the unilateral fashion of implementing OBOR which comprises various elements of connectivity without wide-ranging consultations with partner countries. Delhi feels some of these connectivity projects have security implications for India. India has also registered protests with China on the China-Pakistan-Economic-Corridor (CPEC) part of OBOR as it passes through PoK.The report which focused primarily on the current state of Sino-Indian economic ties also recommended focus on Chinese investment in e-commerce sector. “Another area where we witnessing an upsurge is the E-Commerce sector- many Chinese e-commerce companies are interested in replicating the Alibaba model in India. China is looking for direct participation at the E-commerce sector. This should be expeditiously explored.”The report also suggested that India and China could develop common position on TPP initiated by USA. “…On TPP, Chinese position has evolved from hostility to that of an open mind. Joining TPP will bring reforms internally in China. India must cooperate with China to formulate or devise regulatory standards that are more amenable to Indian and Chinese domestic environment.”The report further recommended market access for Indian firms in China, structural reforms in Indian economy and increasing Chinese investments in India. According to the study geopolitics is weighing heavily on India-China economic relations. China's One Belt One Road strategy, its military mordernisation and its maritime aspirations are impacting expansion of Indo-China economic partnership. Coupled with this factors like lack of competitiveness of Indian firms, dismal Chinese FDI in India, lack of market access for Indian firms, and knowledge deficit on both sides are hurting economic ties.