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National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval on Wednesday highlighted India-China border issues and stated that New Delhi is willing to maintain fruitful communication with Beijing in a pragmatic manner adding that the nation aims to continuously accumulate conditions for “final resolution.”
The 23rd Meeting of the Special Representatives (SRs) of India and China which was held in Beijing on Wednesday, was attended by Ajit Doval, National Security Advisor (NSA) and Wang Yi, China’s Foreign Minister.
“Over the past five years, with the joint efforts of both sides, relevant issues in the border area have been properly resolved, which is of great significance. India is willing to maintain fruitful communication with China in a pragmatic manner and continuously accumulate conditions for the final resolution of the border issue,” said Doval.
According to Chinese Foreign Ministry statement, Wang Yi mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s bilateral meeting in Kazan and stated, “In October this year, President Jinping and PM Modi held a bilateral meeting in Kazan, where they positively evaluated the progress made by China and India in resolving relevant issues in the border area and reached important consensus on improving and developing China-India relations,”
“The leaders of the two countries insisted on viewing China-India relations from a strategic height and long-term perspective calibrated by the navigation mark and clarified the direction for the restoration and development of China-India relations at a critical moment,” the statement added.
Reflecting on the past 70 years, China’s Foreign Minister highlighted that the most valuable lesson from the history of China-India relations is the adherence to the strategic direction set by the leaders
“Next year will usher in the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and India. Looking back on the ups and downs of China-India relations over the past 70 years, the most valuable experience accumulated by both sides is to adhere to the strategic guidance of the leaders of the two countries on bilateral relations, to establish a correct understanding of each other, to adhere to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, and to properly handle differences through dialogue and consultation,” he said.
“As two major developing countries in the world, representatives of emerging economies and important members of the global South, the healthy and stable development of China-India relations is in line with the fundamental interests of more than 2.8 billion people in the two countries and in line with the historical trend of the outstanding growth of the global South,” he added.
Wang Yi stressed that today’s special representatives’ meeting is a timely and powerful measure to implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries. It is also the first formal special representatives’ meeting in five years. It is hard-won and worth cherishing.
Both sides reiterated that they would seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable package of solutions to the border issue in accordance with the political guiding principles reached in 2005.
At the same time, in the spirit of starting with the easy and then moving on to the difficult, and proceeding step by step, they would formulate a roadmap for the next step of work.
The two sides stressed the need to give full play to the role of the meeting mechanism of special representatives on border issues, strengthen the regular control of the border situation, and jointly maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas.
The two sides also exchanged views on international and regional affairs of common concern and expressed their commitment to upholding multilateralism, safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of countries in the Global South, and promoting the development of the international order in a fair and reasonable direction.
