Kolkata

Ambassador of China to India Xu Feihong on Wednesday said the “important understandings” reached during the recent bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will be the “guideline” for the further developments of the relationship between the two countries, hoping that the relationship will not be restricted or interrupted by “specific disagreement” between the two nations in the future.

Modi and Jinping held bilateral talks on October 23 on the margins of the BRICS summit in Russia’s Kazan, in their first structured meeting since the eastern Ladakh border row erupted in May 2020.

“They reached important common understandings on improving and developing China-India relations and set the course to steer bilateral relations back on the path of steady development. This is the first formal meeting between two leaders in the past five years, which is constructive and carries great significance,” Feihong said during an event organised by the Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

“The two side reached a series of common understandings, including strengthening communication and cooperation, enhancing strategic mutual trust; holding talks between foreign ministers and officials at various levels, to bring the relationship back to sound and steady development at an early date; making good use of the Special Representatives mechanism on the China-India boundary questions, ensure peace and tranquility in the border areas, and find a fair and reasonable settlement; strengthening communication and cooperation in multilateral fora to safeguard the common interests of developing countries,” the Ambassador said.

When asked about India and China’s process of complete disengagement in Ladakh’s border areas, Feihong emphasised that, “The two leaders (Modi and Jinping) have reached a very important understanding. That will be the guideline for the further developments of the relations between the two countries. And, I just hope that under the guidelines of this consensus our relationship will be moving forward smoothly in the future and our relation will not be restricted or interrupted by specific disagreement between the two sides.”

The envoy pointed out that It is “quite natural” that between the two countries there will be some differences, but the most important thing is how to handle and solve these differences.

Speaking on the “Doing Business with China”, the envoy said India and China were benefiting each other in development corporations. China-India commercial cooperation has maintained a good momentum for a long time.

This year, the Chinese Embassy and Consulates in India have issued 2.4 lakh visas, 80 per cent of which were business visas. “China has become India’s largest trading partner, and bilateral trade has exceeded USD 100 billion for many years. India’s exports to China have grown steadily, and export products like fish and shrimp from Kolkata to China have increased by nearly 70 per cent in the past three years,” Feihong said.

He said imposing tariffs and restrictions on Chinese products was not conducive to the development of downstream industries and the interests of consumers in India.

Underlining that Chinese market has huge opportunities, Feihong said in the fiscal year 2024, some products that the Indian industry promoted, such as pepper, iron ore and cotton yarn had achieved an increase of more than 17 per cent, 160 per cent and 240 per cent, respectively, in exports to China.

“China welcomes more Indian companies to make full use of platforms such as the China International Import Expo to help more Indian high-quality products to be exported to China and share China’s development dividends,” he added.

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