From Our Special
Correspondent
New Delhi: India and China normally discuss contentious border issues.
But this time on the eve of a new Government coming to power both the countries discussed another serious issue plaguing the neighbours – terrorism.
Like India, China too is concerned over the return of Taliban and al-Qaeda which could have a destabilising effect on its Muslim Uygur Xinjiang province which is experiencing a spate of terrorist attacks.
This was discussed by the Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh who co-chaired the sixth round of the Strategic Dialogue with her Chinese counterpart Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin at the picturesque Diaoyutai guest house in China.
This meeting assumes significance especially for the Northeast since more and more reports are coming that China is the main source of supply of arms and ammunitions to the insurgents fighting in the troubled region.
One Chinese citizen with Thailand origin has also been recently arrested and extradited to India as the kingpin of this huge smuggling of arms racket from China to India.
A host of other issues, including mutual concerns over stability in Afghanistan in the backdrop of the US plans to withdraw its troops from there besides India’s over USD 35 billion trade deficit with China, were expected to figure in the dialogue.
India assured China of its commitment to consolidate strategic bilateral ties, based on mutual trust as well as sensitiveness to each other’s concerns and aspirations on Sunday, as the top diplomats held the annual strategic dialogue in Beijing amid the Indian general elections.
The talks were held as the long-running Lok Sabha elections, hailed as the world’s biggest democratic exercise, got underway in India that will form a new government at the Centre. Singh, in her opening remarks, said: “My visit here today is to reiterate to the government of China that the government of India attaches the highest priority to India’s relations with China.
“We are committed to consolidating our strategic and cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity. The core of our vision is of a good neighbourly relationship based on mutual trust and understanding and where we are sensitive to each other’s concerns and aspiration.
“As our Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) articulated on several occasions, there is sufficient space in the world for both India and China to meet their developmental aspirations within our respective processes of economic and social development there is great scope for bilateral cooperation,” Singh said.
Stating that the annual Strategic Dialogue is being held in less than a year, she told Liu that “it is symbolic of the fact that our relations are growing and our interactions are increasing”. China said it was “confident” that India will stay committed to strong bilateral ties irrespective of whichever party comes to power after the polls.
“We are confident that to promote China-India friendship is a shared consensus of all political parties in India,” Liu said ahead of his meeting with Singh.
“So I am confident that whichever party comes into power in India, it will stay committed to friendship and cooperation between the two countries,” he said.
Liu, in his opening remarks, appreciated the timing of the talks between the two foreign ministries, terming the Indian general elections as “very important”