China, India will never be apart: India’s envoy

Beijing, June 6: India and China will work out their differences to ensure the two countries continue to progress and prosper together, India’s envoy Gautam Bambawale said ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bilateral meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Summit (SCO) this week. In an interview to the state-controlled China Central Television (CCTV), Bambawale said India and China will not “be apart” from each other on the path of development.

Modi will attend the SCO summit in the Chinese coastal city of Qingdao on June 9-10 and will have a one-on-one meet with Xi, over a month after his ice-breaking meeting with China’s President in Wuhan. Bambawale described the Wuhan meet as a “strategic communication” between the leaders. “I think the informal Wuhan summit between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Modi was an effort by the leaders of two large countries in the world, India and China, to talk to each other, to promote cooperation between the two countries,” Bambawale said. “Most importantly, it was a strategic communication between the leaders of the two countries. As a result of their discussion in Wuhan, the two leaders have arrived at a certain consensus: the first and most important consensus is India and China are partners in progress and economic development: the second most important consensus is that there are many more commonalities between India and China than differences,” he added. “We will work on these commonalities. Of course, there are certain differences between us, but we will also work at the differences to ensure the two countries continue to progress and prosper together. “We are not going to be going away from each other or apart from each other. We are going to do this together.”

Sino-Indian ties were hit hard last year during and after an over two-month military stand-off near their borders with Bhutan. The relations have been on an upswing since December. He said the spirit of the Shanghai Cooperation Summit stands for “multipolarity”. “And we believe that the message which will come out of the Qingdao summit is that important big countries which are members of the Shanghai Cooperation (Organisation) can peacefully coexist despite differences in their systems and that they can work together. (IANS)

China, India vow to strengthen cooperation

Pretoria, June 6: China and India working together will accelerate their common development and contribute to the progress of human civilization, Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said. Wang made the remarks on Monday in South Africa’s capital Pretoria during a meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on the sidelines of the formal meeting of the BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday. China and India have extensive common interests and they have far more consensus than differences, Wang said.

The two sides should take bilateral relations and people’s fundamental interests as a starting point at all times, properly handle problems and differences and prevent the interests of one party from affecting the overall interest, Wang said. The two sides should earnestly safeguard peace and tranquillity in the border areas in accordance with the consensus reached by their leaders and avoid taking actions that might complicate and aggravate the situation, Wang said.

China and India should strengthen coordination and play a constructive role in promoting the development of BRICS cooperation, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and other multilateral mechanisms, he said. Sushma Swaraj said the informal Wuhan meeting between the leaders of India and China enhanced mutual trust between the two countries, strengthened cooperation, made the parties more comfortable with each other and achieved unprecedented success. She said India will firmly adhere to the one-China policy and properly handle issues involving the core interests of China such as Taiwan and Tibet-related issues. India and China, as the two largest emerging markets and developing countries, share a common position in safeguarding the international political and economic order and promoting the improvement of global governance, the Indian Minister said. (IANS)