[ KJM Varma ]
BEIJING, 1 Apr: Leaders of India and China exchanged congratulatory messages on Tuesday, marking the 75th anniversary of bilateral relations amid the efforts to reset the ties after over four years of freeze due to the eastern Ladakh military standoff.
“Today marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and China,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a media briefing here answering a question.
President Xi Jinping and his Indian counterpart Droupadi Murmu, besides Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Prime Minister Narendra Modi exchanged congratulatory messages respectively, he said.
Both countries are ancient civilisations, major developing countries and important members of the Global South and both are in a crucial stage of modernisation, Jiakun said.
The historical course of our bilateral relations shows that being partners that contributed to each other’s success and the cooperative dance of ‘the dragon and the elephant’ is the right choice for both sides, Jiakun said.
Under the strategic guidance of the leaders of our two countries, China stands ready to work with India to view and handle bilateral relations with a strategic and long-term perspective and take this occasion as an opportunity to enhance strategic mutual trust and step up exchanges and cooperation in various fields, Jiakun said.
He was referring to how Modi and Xi provided strategic guidance for the development of bilateral relations at their meeting at Kazan in Russia on the sidelines of the BRICS summit last year.
The two sides are implementing the consensus of the two leaders and are promoting cooperation and achieving fruitful outcomes.
Both the countries should also deepen communication and coordination in major international affairs, jointly maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas and advance China-India relations on the track of sound and stable development, Jiakun said.
To a question about the plans by both the countries to celebrate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations, he said the two sides have the willingness to take the occasion to advance the bilateral relations.
Details of the specific events will be released in due course, he said.
After last year’s meeting between Modi and Jinping, both countries held a series of high level meetings, including that of the special representatives of the boundary mechanism followed by the visit of Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri to Beijing for talks to normalise relations after the four-year freeze in relations due to the Ladakh standoff.
This year, on 25 March, India and China held a fresh edition of diplomatic talks in Beijing, focusing on ensuring effective border management and early resumption of cross-border cooperation and exchanges, including on trans-border rivers and resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.
In the meeting of WMCC (Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination) on China-India Border Affairs, the two sides explored various measures and proposals to give effect to the decisions taken during talks between NSA Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the special representatives dialogue in December.
On the following day, Gourangalal Das, the joint secretary in the MEA’s East Asia division, and Liu Jinsong, the director general at the Chinese foreign ministry’s department of Asian affairs met in Beijing, during which they explored ways to rebuild ties and agreed to initiate efforts to promote people-to-people exchanges, including arrangements for resumption of direct flights and resume Kailash Manasarovar Yatra this year.
In the meeting, the two sides also discussed resumption of dialogue mechanisms in a “step-by-step” manner to utilise them to address each other’s priority areas of interest and concern and move the relations to a “more stable and predictable path,” the external affairs ministry had said in a press release. (PTI)
