China and India should stop “undercutting” each other, shed mutual “suspicion” and create “enabling conditions” by expanding bilateral cooperation to resolve the border issue, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday.
Calling the boundary dispute as not the “whole story” of the China-India relationship, Wang said that both countries were friends and partners but they should shed suspicion at each other.
Answering a question at his annual press conference on the current state of India-China relations following the tense standoff in eastern Ladakh since May last year and how Beijing viewed the relationship going forward, he said it is important that both countries manage their disputes properly and expand bilateral cooperation.
“The boundary dispute, an issue left from history, is not the whole story of the China-India relationship.
“It is important that the two sides manage disputes properly and at the same time expand and enhance cooperation to create enabling conditions for the settlement of the issue,” Wang said at an online press conference held on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People”s Congress, China”s Parliament.
In his lengthy answer, Wang, who is also a State Councillor, did not touch upon the recent disengagement of troops from the most contentious north and south banks of the Pangong Lake area in eastern Ladakh after the 10th round of military-level talks between the two sides.
Wang”s comments on the border issue came days after he held a 75-minute telephonic conversation with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during which the latter emphasised that the disengagement of troops at all friction points is necessary to bring peace and tranquillity on the border and for the development of bilateral relations.
Also, on Friday, India’s Ambassador to China Vikram Misri met Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui and called for completing the disengagement of troops from all areas in eastern Ladakh, saying that it would help restore peace and tranquillity at the border and provide conditions for progress in bilateral ties.
In his remarks, Wang pointed out that the world expects both China and India to safeguard the common interests of the developing countries and advance multipolarity in the world.
“On many important issues, our positions are the same or close due to similar national realties, therefore China and India are each other’s friends and partners, not threats or rivals, the foreign minister said.