BEIJING: India’s policy toward China recently has undergone swings and regression, and the cooperation between the two countries has been affected and disrupted, which is not in the interests of both parties, China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during a phone call with Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
Wang noted, adding that the experience of the past few decades has repeatedly indicated that highlighting differences will not help solve problems, but will erode the foundation of mutual trust, according to the Chinese media here on Friday.
Wang Yi said, the rights and wrongs of the China-India border issue last year are very clear, and lessons should be drawn from the past. China and India must cherish the hard-won situation, maintain the momentum of consultation, improve border control mechanisms, and advance the border negotiation process, to realize peace and tranquility along border areas, Wang said. He said during the phone call that the front-line forces of the two sides have recently completed disengagement in the Pangong Lake area and the current situation has eased significantly.China and India should follow the right path of mutual trust and cooperation instead of the path of suspicion, or retrogressive path, and properly handle border issues to prevent bilateral relations from falling into a negative cycle, Wang noted.
Border issues are not the whole of China-India relations and should be placed in an appropriate position in bilateral relations, Wang said. China and India, two emerging economies, need to move forward side-by-side instead of restraining each other, and develop cooperatively instead of building walls against each other. Step-by-step, the two sides can accumulate conditions for further improving bilateral relations and advancing pragmatic cooperation, Wang noted.
The recent disengagement of the two militaries in the Pangong Lake area is an important result of the two sides earnestly implementing the consensus reached by the two foreign ministers in Moscow, Jaishankar said during the phone call. –Agenices
