China, India vow to step up global coordination
April 15, 2014, 4:55 am

Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin (right) and Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh held strategic talks as part of an annual dialogue in Beijing on 14 April 2014 [Xinhua]

Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin and Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh held strategic talks as part of an annual dialogue in Beijing.

The Chinese minister said the bilateral relationship “has already gone beyond the bilateral scope, and naturally besides bilateral cooperation we are also going to talk about regional and international issues”.

“So we can see three levels of India-China cooperation on the bilateral level, regional level and international level. It is a very important bilateral relationship,” said Liu.

Addressing a joint meet of the Russian Parliament last month, President Vladimir Putin Putin singled out China and India as the countries that showed understanding for Russia’s role in the Ukraine crisis.

India and China were also united in their disapproval of the US-backed UN resolution against Sri Lanka in Geneva.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the Indian foreign secretary said the aim of her visit was “to reiterate to the government of China that the government of India attaches the highest priority to India’s relations with China”.

Sujatha Singh said India was “committed to consolidating our strategic and cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity.

“The core of our vision is of a good neighbourly relationship based on mutual trust and understanding and where we are sensitive to each other’s concerns and aspirations”.

She emphasised that the annual strategic dialogue was being held in less than a year, which was “symbolic of the fact that our relations are growing and our interactions are increasing”.

The intensive consultations on bilateral, regional and international issues lasted for over five hours.

Earlier in the day, Singh interacted with Chinese scholars, businessmen and experts on south Asia from various Chinese think-tanks.

She also called on Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

TBP and Agencies