Beijing: China on Thursday said that “sound and stable ties” serve the common interests of China and India as it reacted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks that for New Delhi, ties with Beijing are important and the “prolonged situation” at the borders should be addressed urgently.
In an interview with Newsweek magazine, which described India’s rise as “unstoppable”, Prime Minister Modi expressed hope that through positive and constructive bilateral engagement at the diplomatic and military levels, the two countries will be able to restore and sustain peace and tranquillity at their borders.
“China noted Prime Minister Modi’s remarks,” Chinese spokesperson Mao Ning told a media briefing here when asked for her reaction to Modi’s interview.
“Sound and stable China-India relations serve the interests of both countries and are conducive to peace and development in the region and beyond,” she said.
In his interview, which is the first to be given to a US magazine in the recent past, Modi said that for India, the relationship with China is important and significant. “It is my belief that we need to urgently address the prolonged situation on our borders so that the abnormality in our bilateral interactions can be put behind us. Stable and peaceful relations between India and China are important for not just our two countries but the entire region and world,” he said
On the boundary question, Mao reiterated China’s oft-repeated stand that it does not “represent the entirety of China-India relations, and it should be placed appropriately in bilateral relations and managed properly”.
However, India has maintained that there cannot be restoration of normalcy in its relations with China as
long as the state of the borders remains abnormal.
She said both countries maintain close communication through diplomatic and military channels on handling issues related to the border
situation and have made positive progress.
“We hope that India will work with China, approach the bilateral relations from a strategic height and long-term perspective, keep building trust and engage in dialogue and cooperation, and seek to handle differences appropriately to put the relationship on a sound and stable track,” she said.
Meanwhile, Modi’s remarks were welcomed by the official media here, which termed it a “gesture of goodwill”.
“In a welcome move that may give a timely boost to the development of peaceful and stable China-India relations, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has
expressed the wish for the two neighbouring countries to ‘urgently’ resolve their long-standing border disputes,” the state-run China Daily said in its editorial.