India eager to have better trade ties with China, says Tharoor

New Delhi, Nov. 10 (ANI): Despite being at loggerheads with Beijing on the Arunachal Pradesh issue, India is anxious to move on with China on all fronts, particularly trade, Minister of State for External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor, said on Tuesday.

"We have made our view very clear that Arunachal Pradesh is a sovereign territory of India. India's territorial integrity is not negotiable. But let me stress we are anxious to move on from this and we hope as the visit is coming to a close so too will the conversation on the rhetoric converse subject," Tharoor said.

Tharoor also termed Chinese provocations referring to the 1962 war as a "bit silly", saying that India is no longer "under-prepared."

Recently, a report published in China's state-run newspaper Global times had said that "India seems to have forgotten the lessons of 1962 war."

"Broadly speaking, to invoke "lessons of 1962" so on is a bit silly, there is no question in our minds that we are far from 1962 and that in any case history doesn't repeat itself quite that easily," Tharoor said in his address to the India Economic Forum conference.

"We are no longer a woefully under-prepared military for one thing and we are a country which in many ways moved on in the world since 1962," he added.

The Dalai Lama's Arunachal visit, as well as reports of border incursions in recent months, have affected relations between India and China. (ANI)