China hopes for better ties post elections

Beijing: China Monday expressed confidence that whichever party comes to power in India after the general election will "stay committed" to promoting bilateral friendship and cooperation.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin told the media ahead of his meeting with Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh here that Beijing was "confident" that promoting bilateral friendship "is a shared consensus of all political parties in India".

"So I am confident that whichever party comes to power in India it will stay committed to friendship and cooperation between the two countries."

Liu, who was also the main interlocutor on the 6th Annual Strategic Dialogue which was held at the Diaoyutai State guesthouse Monday, also expressed appreciation for India holding the annual dialogue despite the general election being held in the country.

"I wish to mention in particular that India is undergoing a very important election. Therefore you (Sujatha Singh) have chosen to come to China at this very special time to have this strategic dialogue with us. This shows the tremendous importance that the Indian government attach to this bilateral relationship and we highly appreciate that," Liu said.

On the annual dialogue, the Chinese minister said the bilateral relationship "has already gone beyond the bilateral scope, and naturally besides bilateral cooperation we are also going to talk about regional and international issues".

"So we can see three levels of India-China cooperation on the bilateral level, regional level and international level. It is a very important bilateral relationship."

The Indian foreign secretary said the aim of her visit was "to reiterate to the government of China that the government of India attaches the highest priority to India's relations with China".

Sujatha Singh said India was "committed to consolidating our strategic and cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity.

"The core of our vision is of a good neighbourly relationship based on mutual trust and understanding and where we are sensitive to each other's concerns and aspirations".

She emphasised that the annual strategic dialogue was being held in less than a year, which was "symbolic of the fact that our relations are growing and our interactions are increasing".

The intensive consultations on bilateral, regional and international issues lasted for over five hours.

The talks aimed at maintaining the momentum of India-China relations and implementing agreements reached at the leadership level.

The two sides expressed satisfaction at the bilateral exchanges so far this year and discussed a possible calendar of visits and events during the remainder of the Year of India-China Friendly Exchanges.

Earlier in the day, Sujatha Singh interacted with Chinese scholars, businessmen and experts on south Asia from various Chinese think-tanks.

She also called on Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.