China, India aiming for inclusive development: Xi
June 29, 2014, 6:05 am

Chinese President Xi Jinping, Myanmar President U Thein Sein and Indian Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari together with delegates from China, India and Myanmar attending a conference marking the 60th anniversary of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence pose for a group picture during their meeting in Beijing, capital of China, June 28, 2014 [Xinhua]

Chinese President Xi Jinping, on behalf of the Chinese government and people, extended his warm congratulations and best wishes to his counterparts — Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and Myanmar President U Thein Sein, as well as their governments and people.

The Chinese President told the 700-strong congregation in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing that,“hegemony or militarism is not in the genes of the Chinese”.

“China will unswervingly pursue peaceful development because it is good for China, good for Asia and good for the world,” Xi said.

China, India and Myanmar had signed the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence in 1954.

“The peaceful, cooperative and inclusive development path jointly adopted by China and India” is conducive to “peace, stability and development of Asia and the world”, Xi said.

China and India share a 2,000-km-long border that has never been formally delineated. The two countries began discussing border issues in the 1980s.

Despite the historical border dispute, the two nations will pursue peaceful rise, said Xi quoting Indian Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, “if you think friendship can be won through war, spring will fade away before your eyes”.

The three Asian nations are also part of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor. The four states held multilateral talks at the end of 2013 and have formed an intergovernmental body for the strategic corridor.

The region is host to 40% of the world’s population. The belt hopes to retrace the lost trails and revive commercial trade in the ‘Southern Silk Route’.

The construction of the regional economic corridor and the revival of the ancient Silk Road were on top of the Chinese Foreign Minister’s trade pitch to India earlier this month.

On Saturday, visiting Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari said in Beijing that the three neighbours have to build on convergences and narrow down differences.

“In our respective bilateral relations, our common interests far outweigh our differences,” Ansari said.

“We gather here today to reaffirm the timeless relevance of Panchsheel in establishing a peaceful, stable, prosperous and secure world. As the co-originators of Panchsheel, it is our duty to revitalise our friendly relations and to promote cooperation as the only way forward towards the realisation of our common goals of progress and prosperity for our peoples,” he added.

With a combined population of 2.5 billion, China, the world’s second largest economy, and India are increasingly playing an important and influential role in the global economy.

 TBP and Agencies