By IANS
Beijing : India Friday said its burgeoning relations with China were crucial for regional and global stability as the two countries ended their third round of strategic dialogue and agreed to speed up the resolution of the decades-old border dispute between them.
Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei led the delegations in the two-day talks that covered an entire gamut of bilateral, regional and global issues. The talks also focussed on putting the finishing touches to the agenda for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Beijing next month.
Manmohan Singh is likely to go to China Jan 13 on a three-day state visit that is expected to bolster ties between the two Asian giants that are consciously seeking to put behind bitter memories of the 1962 border conflict and forge a new relationship.
Chinese officials told Menon that China was making “vigorous preparations” and was readying to roll out the red carpet welcome to Manmohan Singh when he visits Beijing.
Setting the tone for Manmohan Singh’s visit, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has been quoted in the Chinese media saying it would be a “big event”.
Besides the resolution of the border row, which the two countries have set as the strategic objective of their relations, the two sides discussed the prospects of civilian nuclear cooperation with New Delhi seeking Beijing’s support in the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
China is broadly supportive of India’s civil nuclear deal with the US, that aims at the resumption of global nuclear trade with New Delhi after a gap of three decades, and has indicated that Beijing will not stand in New Delhi’s way in the NSG.
Enhanced cooperation on global issues like terrorism, trade talks, climate change and the trilateral dialogue between India, China and Russia also figured in the talks with both sides underlining a relationship of mutual cooperation, rather than rivalry, in an emerging Asian order.
Menon called on Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi Friday and discussed with him a host of bilateral issues. China and India enjoyed rapid economic growth and there was great potential for deepening their bilateral relations, Yang said.
The enhancement of China-Indian cooperation would greatly influence the international situation, Yang added.
Yang stressed the two countries should increase exchanges in various fields and “properly solve disputes” in an effort to cement their bilateral ties.
This is the third time the two nations are holding a strategic dialogue, during which they reached wide consensus on several issues.
The strategic dialogue coincided with the historic move by India and China to hold the first joint military exercise in Kunming in western Yunnan province of China, signalling their resolve to reverse decades of mutual distrust and deepen their strategic partnership, which was formed during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to New Delhi over two years ago.