Chinese ambassador to India talks about China's position on China-India relations

Chinese Ambassador to India H.E. Sun Weidong held a roundtable briefing on Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi's visit to China's Taiwan region on Saturday. At the briefing, Sun also introduced China's position on China-India relations.

Journalists from Hindustan Times, The Times of India, The Indian Express, The Hindu, The Press Trust of India (PTI), Asian News International, India Writes, Xinhua News Agency and China Media Group attended the briefing.

Sun said, China and India are important neighbors to each other, both are ancient civilizations, largest developing countries and emerging economies. China and India have a combined population of over 2.8 billion and account for one third of humanity. If China and India speak with one voice, the whole world will listen. If China and India strengthen cooperation, we can promote peace, stability and development of the world. The leaders of the two countries reached important consensus that "China and India should not be a threat to each other, but an opportunity for each other's development", and "be cooperation partners to each other instead of being　competitive rivals", which has pointed out direction for our bilateral relations. The Chinese side has always viewed and handled China-India relations from a strategic and long-term perspective. Even when the relationship between the two countries faces difficulties, China's position has never wavered and we have been committed to pushing it back on the track of healthy and steady development.

Sun said, this year, President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to H.E. Droupadi Murmu on her inauguration as President of the Republic of India. Both of our leaders attended the 14th BRICS Summit. State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi paid a working visit to India. Wang met with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar twice, and exchanged in-depth views on improving bilateral relations. The bilateral relations have overall shown a recovery momentum. Our bilateral trade witnesses a growth, and the process has begun for Indian students' return to China to resume their studies. I believe, as long as China and India grasp the importance of our bilateral relations, and jointly move towards the same goal, there will be more progress.

Sun said, at present, facing the combined forces of changes and a pandemic unseen in a century, both China and India stick to the general direction of multilateralism, share the same or similar positions on many regional and international issues, and have common interests in improving global governance, energy and food security, and responding to climate change, etc. President Xi Jinping puts forward promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. India advocates "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakum" (the world being one family) as well. We should draw strength from our ancient civilizations, promote mutual understanding and support, continuously uphold and advocate the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and the Bandung Spirit initiated by the two sides, share oriental wisdom with the world, so as to jointly maintain stability of the international order, promote regional peace and tranquility, and boost the recovery of the world economy, and to achieve common development and revitalization.

Regarding the China-India border situation, Sun said, since the border incident in 2020, the two sides have kept the diplomatic and military channels open, and held 10 meetings of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on Border Affairs (WMCC) and 16 rounds of Corps Commander Level Meeting. We have disengaged in most points of the western sector, and the current border situation is overall stable. Not long ago, China and India held the 16th round of Corps Commander Level Meeting and issued a joint press release. Building on the progress made at the previous meeting, the two sides continued discussions for the resolution of the relevant issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Western Sector in a constructive and forward-looking manner.

Sun said, China's position on the boundary question between China and India is clear and consistent. It is left over from history. China always maintains that a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement should be reached by the two sides through consultation and negotiation. Pending an ultimate resolution of the boundary question, the two sides should jointly maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas. As a next step, the two sides should follow the important consensus reached by the State leaders and the agreements reached by both sides, keep dialogues via diplomatic and military channels and work out a mutually acceptable solution to the remaining issue in line with the principle of mutual and equal security, and strive to switch from emergency response to normalized management and control of the border situation. Maintaining peace and tranquility in the border areas serves the common interests of both sides and requires joint efforts of two sides.