BANGALORE, India — Rather than competing for offshore software development work, India and China can help each other's technology industries through cooperation, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said during a visit here.

Visiting Indian and Chinese technology firms on Sunday (April 10), Jiabao said that if India helps China improve its software skills, China would help India build its hardware manufacturing capabilities. If so, the two countries could lead the world's information technology industry and usher in an "Asian century" in technology.

A software-hardware partnership between the two countries would shake up the global technology industry. Jiabao said that while China wants Indian software developers to invest in China, he said a joint steering committee is also needed to focus on science and technology cooperation between the two countries. He promised to work toward implementing the plan.

Such a partnership would be of immense benefit to both countries and is highly complementary since China has traditionally been weak on software while India lags behind in hardware manufacturing.

A team from India's National Association of Software and Service Companies will visit China soon to explore the possibility of locating software development operations there.