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India, China natural strategic partners, says China foreign minister
Wang Yi says the Asian countries have a common responsibility to maintain regional and global peace and stability
Tue, Jul 02 2013
Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei: Describing India and China as natural strategic partners, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday the Asian countries have a common responsibility to maintain regional and global peace and stability.
To enhance mutual trust and cooperation between the neighbours whose ties are often mired in mutual suspicion, the two nations are working on dates for a visit by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Beijing this year, Wang told reporters. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has already travelled to India and if Singh returns the visit this year, it will be the first time since the 1950s that top-level trips have taken place in the same year, Indian officials said.
Premier Li Keqiang just visited India and we look forward to receiving Prime Minister Singh to China later this year. We believe that these two visits are like sowing the seeds in spring and reaping the fruits in autumn. And this is our common goal which we believe serves the interests of both peoples, Wang said.
Asias future lies here together between India and China, external affairs minister Salman Khurshid said. We have reviewed the work that has to be done, that has already been done since Premier Lis visit and among the things that we are going to do.
The ministers made the remarks after their bilateral meeting in the Bandar Seri Begawan, Bruneis capital, on the sidelines of a series of meetings with the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean).
This week, defence minister A.K. Antony will visit Beijing to build trust between the defence establishments of the two countries which fought a brief but bitter war in 1962. The two Asian countries often share prickly ties, stemming from the border war. Both sides have yet to demarcate their common border despite countless rounds of talks. The undemarcated border is a source of tension between the two with the latest flare-up of tension occurring in April when India accused Chinese army of entering 20km into Indian territory, a charge that China denied. The standoff took three weeks to resolve and threatened to derail Lis visit to India.
We believe our two countries are natural strategic partners and we should engage in all-round cooperation in a wide range of areas. We are two big countries and we have the important responsibility. We believe that we shoulder this common responsibility to regional and global peace and stability, Wang said. The most important thing that we agreed upon is to constantly push forward the China-India relationship, he said during his talk with Khurshid.
Khurshid agreed with Wang when he said that the talks to resolve the border dispute were very successful and good progress was made. The 16th round of talks between Indias national security advisor Shiv Shankar and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi ended in Beijing over the weekend.
India, China ‘natural strategic partners’, says China foreign minister - Livemint
