Foreign ministers' meeting to provide political impetus to ease border situation: Chinese envoy

NEW DELHI - The recent bilateral meeting between foreign ministers of China and India will provide political impetus to ease the border situation and promote bilateral relations, Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong said Monday.

In response to media queries on the meeting in Moscow between Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Sun said since the border-related incidents occurred this year, it has become more important to steer the right direction of China-India relations.

Sun noted that the leaders of the two countries have reached a series of important consensus, including the basic judgement that China and India are partners rather than rivals, and that both countries provide opportunities rather than pose threats to each other.

"We need peace instead of confrontation; we need to pursue win-win cooperation instead of zero-sum game; we need trust rather than suspicion; we need to move our relationship forward rather than backward," he said, adding, "these are the correct direction for us to bring our bilateral relations back on track."

According to a joint press statement released in Moscow on Thursday, Wang and Jaishankar reached a five-point consensus on the developments in the border areas as well as on bilateral relations, including that the two sides should follow the series of consensus reached between the two countries' leaders, ease tensions, maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas, continue diplomatic communication, and expedite work to conclude new confidence building measures to maintain and enhance peace and tranquility in the border areas.

"I have noted that public opinion in India generally made positive comments on the five-point consensus, which is of the view that both sides have demonstrated political will to resolve the border situation," said the Chinese ambassador.

Sun noted that relevant Indian ministries claimed recently in several statements that Indian troops "preempted" Chinese military activity at the southern bank of the Pangong Tso Lake, which obviously revealed illegal trespassing on the Line of Actual Control and unilateral changing of the status quo in the border areas.

Some Indian media quoted government sources to disclose that the Indian army fired shots on two different occasions, Sun said, adding that for the first time since 1975, the calm in the border areas was broken by gunfire.

Citing the last point of the consensus reached between the two foreign ministers on the future development in the border areas, Sun said "the way ahead for solution is very clear."