Beijing: China on Monday appreciated Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “positive” remarks on the Sino-Indian ties favouring dialogue over discord and said that a cooperative “dance between the elephant and dragon” contributing to mutual success is the only choice for both sides.
“China appreciated Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent positive statements on China-India relations,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a media briefing here while responding to a question on the prime minister’s remarks in conversation with American podcaster Lex Fridman.
The successful meeting between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Modi in Kazan, Russia, last October provided strategic guidance for the improvement and development of the bilateral ties, she said.
“Both sides have earnestly followed through on the important common understandings of our leaders, strengthened exchanges and practical cooperation at all levels, and achieved a series of positive outcomes,” she said.
On Modi’s remarks that the relationship between India and China isn’t something new as both nations have ancient cultures and civilizations and have for centuries learned from each other, Mao said, “Let me stress that in the two-thousand-year-plus history, the mainstream of China-India interactions has been friendly exchanges and mutual learning.”
“This greatly contributes to the progress of civilizations and humanity,” she said.
“As the two largest developing countries, China and India have a shared task to achieve respective development and revitalisation, and should understand and support each other, and help each other succeed,” she said.
This serves the fundamental interests of over 2.8 billion people in the two countries, meets the common aspiration of regional countries, follows the historical trend of the Global South growing stronger, and is conducive to world peace, stability, development and prosperity, she said.
“The two countries should be partners that contribute to each other’s success. A cooperative pas de deux (ballet) of the dragon and the elephant is the only right choice for both sides,” she said, reiterating the recent comments by Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the development of bilateral ties.
China stands ready to work with India to implement the important common understandings between the two leaders, take the 75th anniversary of the diplomatic relations as an opportunity, promote exchange and cooperation in various fields and at all levels, and advance bilateral ties on the track of sound and stable development, Mao said.
In his podcast, Modi said normalcy has returned to the India-China border after his recent talks with President Xi to defuse tensions ignited by the 2020 clashes between the two armies in eastern Ladakh.
Sounding optimistic about the ties between the world’s two most populous countries, he said differences between neighbours are natural and emphasised the ancient cultural ties between them when the two civilisations learnt from each other and had little conflict.
Asserting that their efforts are aimed at ensuring that their differences do not turn into disputes and preferring dialogue over discord, he said the two countries once contributed over 50 per cent of the global GDP.
“Our cooperation is not only (mutually) beneficial but also essential for global peace and prosperity,” he said.
