China and India exchanged their views frankly during a strategic dialogue held in Beijing on Wednesday, but experts said that their disputes on specific issues, including India's bid to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and antiterrorism, will persist.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui and Indian Foreign Secretary Subramanyam Jaishankar co-chaired a dialogue on Wednesday, exchanging ideas on some "friction points," including the problem of India's application to join the NSG, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
This is the first strategic dialogue since Narendra Modi became Indian Prime Minister in 2014.
India blames China for blocking it from the NSG, but aside from China, many NSG members including Brazil, Austria, New Zealand, Ireland and Turkey are also opposed to India's bid citing the fact that India has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang was quoted by Xinhua as saying that frictions between China and India "are not bilateral but multilateral."
Apart from the NSG dispute, China and India still clash in other fields, including the understanding on counter-terrorism and free trade, Lin Minwang, an expert on South Asian studies and a professor at the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
"India always wants to portray Pakistan as a 'supporter of terrorism' in the international community, which makes it easier for the country to link counter-terrorism issue to Sino-Pakistani relationship and blame China's support to Pakistan for some issues," Lin said, adding that India does not understand the significance of Sino-Pakistani friendship.
Additionally, trade is also a problem between both sides. "India's trade deficit with China is increasing since many of China's products meet the needs of the Indian market, such as small household appliances," Lin said.
India should understand that free trade is a dynamic process and China has also suffered from huge trade deficits with other countries at the beginning of its reform and opening-up, Lin said.
Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi met with Jaishankar on Tuesday before the strategic dialogue, calling for stronger ties between the two neighbors, according to a press release posted on Chinese foreign ministry's official website.
