Beijing: Calling for enhanced exchanges between India and China to build mutual trust and understanding, New Delhi on Friday said the two Asian giants need to forge stronger relationship "going beyond national politics" to accommodate each other`s interests. In a rare interview carried by the PLA Daily, the official newspaper of China`s military, Indian Ambassador to China, S Jaishankar said the two countries should step-up contacts to ensure that issues like boundary dispute do not obstruct the relationship.
"I feel that the only solution is to increase contacts and exchanges. There is distrust when people don`t understand each other," he said. Jaishankar said: "Lack of mutual trust and understanding is the real challenge faced by our two countries. It has blurred our vision."
"If you have to give a very direct solution, then my solution is: enhance exchanges in every field," he underlined.
The two countries have held 14 rounds of talks to find a mutually acceptable solution to the long-standing boundary disputes. Jaishankar said the two countries should remember that "the decline of India and China in the 18th-19th century was connected." "So too were their re-emergence as modern states after the Second World War. So for the common development of the two countries, we need a stronger relationship, going beyond national politics, one where we understand each others` interests much better. Both of us need a stronger Asia," he said.
Replying to a question, he said the analogy of describing China and India as "dragon" and "elephant" was "exaggerated".
He said the bilateral relationship in the last 10 to 15 years has "always been good".
PTI