Li's India trip to boost co-op, mutual trust

BORDER ISSUE

The border issue is a problem left over from history. Since 2003, special representatives of China and India have held 15 rounds of talks and made positive progress.

Earlier this month, an incident in the western section of the China-India border ended peacefully, after the two countries negotiated the situation through diplomatic channels and existing military mechanisms in an amicable way.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that maintaining peace in the border areas serves the common interests of the two countries and that both sides have demonstrated a constructive attitude toward maintaining peace along their border.

"I believe that our two countries have the ability and wisdom to manage any differences or problems between us as long as we keep the larger interest of bilateral relations in mind," Wei Wei, Chinese ambassador to India, said in an article published on Indian newspaper The Hindu on May 10.

It is China's strategic choice and established policy to strengthen good-neighborly and friendly cooperation with India, and that will not change, stressed the ambassador.

Qu Xing, president of the China Institute of International Studies, a think tank affiliated with the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said bilateral cooperation in other areas, such as trade, cultural exchanges and people-to-people exchanges, will help reach a final settlement on the border issue.

At a meeting with Singh in March, Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed that China and India should improve and make good use of the mechanism of special representatives to work out a fair, rational solution acceptable to both sides as soon as possible.

PARTNERS NOT RIVALS

Leaders of the two countries have repeatedly underscored their common pursuit of development and the principle that they are partners instead of rivals.

In their March meeting, Xi told Singh that the world needs the common development of China and India, and is big enough to accommodate the development of both countries.

China regards its ties with India as one of its most important bilateral relationships, and commits itself to pushing forward the two countries' strategic cooperative partnership, he added.

Singh said his country adheres to an independent foreign policy and will not be used as a tool to contain China.

India, he said, is willing to make concerted efforts with China to show the world that they are cooperative partners instead of rivals.