NEW DELHI: As India and China strive to normalise their relations after border tensions, Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong said on Tuesday that the two countries should see each other’s development as an opportunity rather than a threat, and as cooperative partners instead of competitors.
In accordance with the agreements made during the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping in Kazan in Russia last year, India and China have initiated high-level meetings to normalise their strained ties and build trust, with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri engaging with their Chinese counterparts.
“We should make efforts to translate the important consensuses reached by our leaders into common understandings of our peoples, namely China and India are each other’s development opportunity rather than threat, and cooperation partner rather than competitor,” he said as the embassy hosted a youth forum for both countries as part of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic ties.
Highlighting the importance of strengthening “strategic communication” to enhance strategic mutual trust, the ambassador said the two sides should “encourage exchanges and visits in various fields and at different levels, enhance mutual understanding and mutual trust, and work together to achieve common development and rejuvenation.”
Tensions between India and China worsened following the 2020 clash between their troops along the Himalayan border. But in January they decided to set in motion efforts for starting direct flights, resuming the Kailash Mansarovar yatra and sharing hydrological data.
The ambassador said Prime Minister Modi and President Xi had agreed to “view and handle China-India relations from a strategic height and long-term perspective, prevent specific disagreements from affecting the overall relationship, strengthen strategic communication, enhance strategic mutual trust, ensure peace and tranquillity in the border area.” This the envoy said would ring the relationship “back to the track of sound and steady development at an early date.”
He said the recent high-level meetings creates an important opportunity for "the reboot of China-India relations and provides a broader platform for exchanges and cooperation between the youth of our two countries."
“President Xi Jinping said that youth is the future of a country and the hope of a nation. Prime Minister Modi also said that when youth come together to brainstorm on taking the country forward, we get concrete results,” the envoy said.
The envoy said there are “certain forces unwilling to see the friendly coexistence of our two countries,” trying to “sow discord between us.”
“They exaggerate the so-called "China threat" and "China crash" fallacies, and claim that China does not want India to develop and it is difficult for us to become partners. Some Indian friends only learn about China through western media reports, many of which are with prejudice,” he said.