BEIJING: Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressed that China has always been committed to maintaining stability along the China-India border and will not be the first to complicate or escalate the situation.
During his visit to France, Wang has delivered a speech at the French Institute of International Relations and answered questions about China-India ties, saying China is ready to manage all kinds of issues through dialogue with India, Global Times reported on Tuesday.
“China pursues a policy of good-neighborliness and friendship. We hope to live in long-term stability and friendship with all our neighbors,” said Wang, noting that China has more neighbors than any other country in the world and their long history of exchanges has always resulted in problems of one kind or another.
China is ready to work with its neighbors to resolve issues left over from history through friendly consultation in the spirit of building friendship and partnership, Wang said. With regard to the recent China-India border dispute, he said that China has always been committed to maintaining stability along the China-India border and will not be the first to complicate or escalate the situation.
The boundary between China and India has not yet been demarcated, so there have been problems. China will firmly safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and “we are ready to manage all kinds of issues through dialogue with the Indian side,” he added.
In another development, China’s Western Theatre Command said that Indian troops once again illegally crossed the Line of Actual Control near the south bank of the Pangong Lake and Reqin mountain pass on Monday, a blatant provocative move that seriously infringed on China’s territorial sovereignty, and undermined peace and stability in the China-India border area.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday said Chinese border troops have always strictly observed the Line of Actual Control and have never crossed the line. The border troops of the two countries have been in communication over territory issues.
Wang said leaders of the two neighboring countries have met many times and reached important consensus.
Both sides agreed that bilateral cooperation outweighs differences and common interests outweigh conflicts. Differences should be properly managed and, in particular, differences should not escalate into conflicts.
China is willing to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation with India to help it speed up its development, Wang said.
“Both China and India are major developing countries, and we should jointly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries on the international stage and create a broader space for the development of emerging economies,” he noted.
“If both China and India can develop, the 2.7 billion people in the two countries will move towards modernization together, which will be a spectacular sight that is unprecedented in the cause of human progress. I hope India can see and deal with problems from that perspective,” Wang said.