‘Peace over Confrontation’: Chinese Envoy Calls For Mutual Cooperation Between India And China

Some quarters in India raise doubts about consensus reached by leaders, have the wrong perception of the direction of Indo-China relations, said the Chinese envoy.

Naveen Srivastava and Wu Jianghao had their last meeting on June 24 when they concurred that the two sides need to quickly implement disengagement and de-escalation steps agreed on by senior military commanders. But this agreement did not lead to any change in the ground situation and a belligerent Beijing continued to attempt to amp up pressure on India, accusing New Delhi of violating bilateral agreements and provoking the June 15 clash in Galwan Valley that led to casualties on both sides.

Amid the disengagement of troops from the Line of Actual Control (LAC)in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley, the Chinese envoy on Friday called for mutual cooperation between Indian and China saying that the two countries should be partners rather than rivals.

“China and India have a history of friendly exchanged for more than 2,000 years. Friendly cooperation has dominated most of the time. For both India and China achieving development revitalization is the top priority where we share long-term strategic interests,” said Chinese Ambassador to India H.E. Sun Weidong said while talking about the current relations between the two countries.

Disengagement of troops is on: Chinese envoy

Talking about the Galwan clash, the Chinese envoy said it was a situation neither China nor India would like to see.

“On July 5, the Special Representatives of the China-India Boundary Question, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval had a conversation over the phone and reached a positive consensus on easing the current border situation,” Weidong said.

“Currently, our front line troops are disengaging on the ground in accordance with the consensus reached by the Military Corp Commander talks,” he added.

After three rounds of military-level talks, diplomatic engagements, India and China began disengagement of troops who were locked in a bitter standoff in eastern Ladakh since early May. As agreed in the final corps commander-level meeting at Chushul on the Indian side of the LAC, China began the withdrawal of troops from LAC on Monday.

As of Thursday, the Chinese troops had completely withdrawn from Gogra and Hot Springs in eastern Ladakh after the consensus reached during the commander-level talks, Chinese troops have taken ‘effective measures’ to disengage from border positions, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian had earlier said in a statement.

The Chinese envoy explained in five steps to bring India-China relations back on track:

• First, China and India should be partners, rather than rivals.
• Second, China and India need peace rather than confrontation.
• Third, China and India need to pursue win-win cooperation instead of a zero-sum game.
• Fourth, China and India need to build trust, rather than suspicion.

The Chinese envoy also urged the media outlets of two countries to “make efforts in an objective, rational and responsible manner, avoid inciting antagonism in an effort to contribute positive energy to the steady and sound development of China-India relations.”

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