Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday told Indian Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi that the two countries should not pose a threat to each other and step up cooperation in various fields, including the construction of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor.
Xi was meeting Modi for the first time, after the latter’s re-election, during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisa-tion summit at Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan. The two leaders also discussed the US protectionist trade policy.
Xi said both countries needed to accept their differences and expand their cooperation in various sp-heres. He pointed out that China and India are the only two emerging market countries with a population of one billion, and they are at an important stage of rapid development.
Xi emphasised that "the two sides should adhere to the basic judgment that China and India... do not pose a threat to each other. They must persist in deepening mutual trust, focusing on cooperation, and accepting differences so that China-India relations become a more positive asset and positive energy for promoting the development of the two countries".
BCIM is also one of the major six corridors of China's Belt and Road connectivity project. It aims to connect China's eastern city of Kunming with India's Kolkata through Bangladesh's Dhaka and Myanmar's Mandalay.
India had not opposed the BCIM but its response to the project was tepid as it said to have concerns about China expanding its influence in its eastern neighbours.
India also fears the project would expose its north-eastern region. Xi also told Modi "that it was necessary to make good use of mechanisms such as the meeting of special representatives on the border issue, strengthen the building of confidence measures, and maintain stability in the border areas of the two countries". The two countries have a dispute over their 3,448 km long border, which is also the ninth largest boundary in the world.
By Gaurav Sharma
