China and India should not be threat to each other, Wang tells Doval

New Delhi: China and India should be development opportunities for each other instead of posing a threat to each other, Beijing conveyed to New Delhi, as National Security Advisor Ajit Doval had a meeting with the communist country’s foreign minister Wang Yi in the communist country’s capital on Monday.

Doval is in China to attend the 20th Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s Security Council secretaries. Wang, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), is his counterpart for India-China boundary negotiations.

“Only when the dragon and the elephant dance together can there be a win-win situation,” Wang told Doval. “China and India should adhere to the important consensus of being development opportunities for each other and not posing a threat to each other, and being partners rather than competitors.”

He said that China and India should stick to the direction of “good-neighbourliness and friendship, strive for a mutually beneficial and win-win prospect, demonstrate the historical wisdom of the two ancient civilisations, properly handle sensitive issues, and maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas”.

The two sides should focus more on cooperation matters, strengthen exchanges at all levels and in all fields between the two countries, and support each other on multilateral platforms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Wang stressed during his meeting with Doval.

“Both sides reviewed recent developments in India-China bilateral relations and underscored the need to promote the overall development of the India-China bilateral relations, including by fostering greater people-to-people ties,” according to a press release issued by the Ministry of External Affairs. The NSA also emphasised the need to counter terrorism in all its forms and manifestations to maintain overall peace and stability in the region, added the MEA readout.

Doval and Wang exchanged views on other bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest.