`India, China need new thinking to further ties`

The state-run media said that China and India faced many "practical difficulties and challenges" in improving their ties.

Beijing: Seeking a "new thinking" to further China-India relations, the state-run media here said on Thursday that the two sides faced many "practical difficulties and challenges" in improving their ties, including the West`s "negative" campaign about their competition theory.

In an article titled "New Thinking Needed in China-India Relations", the ruling CPC`s mouthpiece People`s Daily said both countries looked forward to "sustained and stable development of bilateral relations in the new year" after the recent visit of top Chinese diplomat Dai Bingguo to New Delhi to take part in a BRICS meet. "Despite the unexpected turns caused by the border clashes, the China-India relations have gradually moved back on the track of normal development under the joint efforts of both sides," it said. Since entering the new century, China and India accurately grasped the right orientation, constructively dealt with the bilateral relations and border disputes, constantly increased strategic mutual trust and strengthened exchanges and cooperation, the paper said in its English edition posted on the People`s Daily online. "Even so, both sides still face many practical difficulties and challenges in the development of bilateral relations. Some media, political parties and military sources of India often made discordant voices on issues of borders and cross-border water resources, interfering with the normal development of bilateral relations," it said. "Some Western countries do not hope to see the rapid rise of China and India, so they deliberately spread such negative news as `China-India competition theory`, `China threat theory` and `competition between the dragon and the elephant`, in an attempt to ... delay the development of the two countries," it said. As representatives of emerging powers and important members of G20 and BRICS, China and India have extensive common interests in major fields, including the reform of international system, global economic governance and energy resources and climatic change, so they have great potential of cooperation and broad prospects, the paper said. Quoting a US think tank report, it said, "With eastward shift of US strategic focus, the United States will have a complicated relationship with China and India." "It deserves special attention and tests the wisdom of all parties that how China and India can go beyond the `competition between the dragon and the elephant` and how China, India and the United States can seek a balance," it said. PTI