Zeenews Bureau
Beijing: Ahead of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao`s visit, India and China Monday ruled out rivalry as Beijing gave assurances it would address the contentious issues like stapled visas to residents of Jammu and Kashmir as well as
India`s bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.
"We will not exclude the possibility of discussions on
any issue. For the issues such as visas, I believe the working
level staff will talk about it between our two countries,"
Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Hu Zhengyue, who briefed
the media here about Wen`s visit to India and Pakistan, said.
"China takes a positive view of India`s rise and sees India`s rise as an opportunity," Chinese ambassador Zhang Yan added, setting the tone for the three-day visit of the Chinese premier to India starting Wednesday.
The envoy hoped that the Chinese premier`s visit would map out a roadmap for the development of bilateral relations.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will hold talks with Wen Thursday and discuss ways to expand the bilateral relationship and convey New Delhi`s concerns over Chinese stapled visas for Indian citizens of Jammu and Kashmir and the widening trade deficit between the two countries.
Indian officials had said that China has promised to
come up with some solution to solve the issue amid reports
that some residents of Jammu and Kashmir already started
getting regular visas.
India had put on hold bilateral defence exchanges
after top Indian General B S Jaswal was denied visa on the
ground that he headed troops of Jammu and Kashmir, which China
regards as "disputed territory".
Hu also said the proposed dam being built by China on
Brahmpatura river in Tibet would not affect water availability
to India and the down stream countries.
Asked whether the issue of India`s bid for the
permanent membership of UNSC would figure during Wen`s visit
in the light of US President Barrack Obama`s announcement
extending support for it, Hu said Wen would discuss it during
talks with the Indian leaders.
"Our discussions will touch upon this matter. It is
not for the first time it has come up in our discussions. Our
two countries have exchanged views on many occasions and
publicised documents. We have made our stand clear. We are
happy to see India playing a bigger role in international
arena including the United Nations," Hu said without
specifying whether China would come out in support.
China views the three-day visit of Wen to New Delhi
will be "big event in India-China relations", Hu said.
On the Brahmaputra dam issue, he said "China and India
have had very good communications and this will not pose as
any obstacle to the development of our relations and will not
affect the life of people living in the downstream of the
river," he said.
On the emerging close ties between India and US, Hu
said during Premier Wen`s visit to India, there will be "a lot
of agreements signed" but this has nothing to do with the
relations India-US ties.
"All relations have international impact, so are
US-India relations and US-China relations. I believe that the
bilateral relations or the trilateral relations should be
sound interaction and they should be mutually re-enforcing,"
Hu said.
Relations between China and India are natural and we
have a bright prospect for future development, he said.
Heading the biggest ever delegation of 400
businessmen, Wen would be arriving in New Delhi on a three-day
visit on December 15 and hold talks with Prime Minister Singh,
President Pratibha Patil, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and
other political leaders before leaving for Pakistan on
December 17.
"Premier Wen`s visit to India will not only cover
economy, trade" but also cover a host of issues concerning
bilateral and multilateral areas, he said.
"In multilateral areas, our two countries have
cooperated with each other on addressing major international
issues and regional affairs," he said.
Hu said both China and India are major developing
countries in Asia and it is important that the two countries
have good neighbourly relations for "decent friendship".
Hu said as the bilateral trade was set to reach the
target of USD 60 billion this year, China has emerged as
India`s largest trading partner while India has become China`s
ninth largest trading partner.
"India has become China`s largest overseas hyper
market. Bilateral investments have been expanded to software
and other hi-tech areas," he said.
-Agencies inputs
