FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
India-China Relations Are Seeing a Turnaround, Says Wang Yi
March 8, 2018 (EIRNS)—There are clear signs that serious efforts are being made to put China-India relations on a right footing.
In his press conference today, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that “despite some tests and difficulties, China-India relations continue to grow.” He emphasized that China is interested in forging closer India-China ties, by focusing on greater dialogue based on “mutual trust.”
“China and India must do everything to empathize with and support each other and avoid mutual suspicion and attrition.... Mutual trust is the most precious commodity in the India-China relations. With political trust, not even the Himalayas can stop us from friendly exchanges. Without it, not even level land can bring us together,”
he said.
He responded to a question:
“The Chinese dragon and the Indian elephant must not fight each other but dance with each other. If China and India are united, one plus one will not only include two, but also 11,”
India’s daily The Hindu quoted him saying.
India has banned Tibetans from holding a rally with the Dalai Lama in New Delhi this month to mark the 60th anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. “We don’t want Tibetans to hold big anti-China protests in New Delhi because it creates a bit of diplomatic tension between India and China,” said a senior Indian Foreign Ministry official. “It’s a very sensitive time for India and China ties and we want to ease tensions,” the official said, Reuters reported.
India’s Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale had visited China last month for talks with top officials.
“A spate of track-1 meetings is now in the pipeline, including the China-India Strategic Economic Dialogue next month, which is likely to be preceded by visits to India of Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan and of Guo Yezhou, Vice Minister in the International Department of the Communist Party of China,”
The Hindu reported today.
In addition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping are likely to meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit over Nov. 30-Dec. 1 in Argentina, as well as the July 25-27 BRICS summit in South Africa. Modi is also expected to travel to China for the regional Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting in June.
