India not to line up with any other country against China

Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said India will not line up with any other country against China.

"Some people have suggested that US, Japan and India work together against China. We say no," Khurshid said in a recent interview with the Chinese press, including Beijing Review in New Delhi ahead of the upcoming visit by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Beijing in October.

"We are very clear that we have an open and honest relationship with China, and we also have an open and honest relationship with the US and with Japan," Khurshid said.

There is an "overall consensus" in India to develop relations with China, said Khurshid. "We don't want to tie up with somebody and our sovereign decision is to have a full relationship with China," he added.

When Singh arrives in China, it will be the first time since 1954 that the two countries' heads of government exchange visits in the same year.

This May Premier Li Keqiang visited India on his first overseas trip after taking office.

"We were very pleased that his first foreign stop outside of China as premier was in India. I think that was an important indication of our relationship. Obviously, there is something very significant in the growth of our relationship," Khurshid said.

He stressed that there are strong fundamentals that provide a base for the bilateral relationship, which include complementarities between the two economies and imperatives for the two countries to work together in handling world and regional issues of common interests.

He also called for more exchanges between the two countries to enhance mutual trust and to expand areas of common interests.

"India would welcome more meetings, not only with government officials, but also with the Chinese people," he said.

"Trust is not something you can switch on and switch off. Trust is something based on experiences and exchanges between people, based on sharing sentiments and having common positions to face challenges," he said.

Khurshid said he would like to see more such visits coming from China and the establishment of Chinese-style industrial parks in his country.

He expressed the hope that more Indians will travel to China and said he was looking forward to seeing the growth of bonds with China, such as the building of sister cities.

"Chinese food is the most popular (foreign) food in India, and I hope someday Indian food can become the most popular foreign food in China," he said.

Regarding the China-India boundary issue, the Indian minister said he believed it was a very narrow issue that the two sides needed to work on from time to time.

"We make common efforts to move step by step toward (solving) our boundary issue. I think we have a very satisfied progress. If China has a greater stake in the Indian economy and we have greater participation in the Chinese economy, many of these issues will get solved," he added.

Khurshid said the two countries should look at the much larger landscape of collaboration and cooperation.

"I look forward to the day when a decision needs to be made and people look at India and China, and say, 'We cannot make the decision unless both of them are on board,'" Khurshid added.

China and India are making concerted efforts to expand bilateral trade volume to $100 billion by 2015.

However, Chinese companies, such as telecommunication firms Huawei and ZTE, have been frustrated in their efforts to expand into the Indian market.

"The concern (from India) is partly based on the desire to protect Indian manufacturing and partly on the security issue. This is just a concern. Even in our government, we have different views on how much the concern should be taken into consideration," Khurshid said.