Chinese FM calls for mutual trust with India

BEIJING - Foreign Minister Wang Yi Thursday called mutual trust "an issue that needs to be addressed urgently" between China and India.

"With political trust, not even the Himalayas can stop us from friendly exchanges. Without it, not even level land can bring us together," Wang told a press conference on the sidelines of the first session of the 13th National People's Congress.

When China and India, the two largest developing countries in the world, each with a population of more than 1 billion, become modernized,the two countries must do everything to empathize with and support each other, he said.

Chinese and Indian leaders have developed a strategic vision for the future bilateral ties, which is the Chinese "dragon" and the Indian "elephant" must not fight but dance with each other, he said.

Stressing that shared understanding between the two countries far outstrips difference and common interests far outweigh frictions, Wang said China is willing and ready to carry on traditional friendship.

He said he hopes the two sides will replace suspicion with trust, manage differences through dialogue and build a future through cooperation.