Gearing up for his visit to India for the 15th round of boundary talks, top Chinese diplomat Dai Bingguo on Wednesday said the two countries should handle differences “wisely, calmly and properly” to prevent them from becoming “barriers” in improvement of ties.
The boundary talks are set to be held next week after being postponed in November over China’s objections to the presence of the Dalai Lama at a Buddhist conference in New Delhi.
“We should deepen cooperation and coordination, enhance cooperation in international and regional affairs... We should think and act in the interest of overall China-India relationship,” Mr Dai, designated higher than the foreign minister said at a meeting held in the newly-built Indian embassy here.
His remarks came after a series of incidents in recent days have again sparked tensions between the two sides.
“We need to handle the issues between the two countries wisely, calmly and properly and prevent them from becoming barriers between our two countries for obstacles to bilateral relations.
“Instead we should handle them successfully so that they promote progress in our bilateral relations,” he said apparently referring to recurring hiccups in the ties.
Mr Dai, whose is also the designated special representative of the Sino-India border dispute virtually ever since the talks began will be taking part in the 15th round of border talks along with national security adviser Shivshankar Menon on January 17. Recently, problems arose after China declined visa to an IAF officer, who was to be part of a defence exchange on grounds that he was from Arunachal Pradesh.
India cut down the size of the defence delegation from 30 to 15.
The two countries also defused the crisis arising out of the illegal detention of two Indians in the business hub of Yiwu.
— PTI