Khurshid's visit reflects stability of ties: Chinese daily

, May 11: External Affairs Minister

's visit to

despite opposition from several quarters in India, reflects the stability of

relations and the importance New Delhi attaches to its ties with Beijing, an influential official daily here has said.

"Since the China-Indian border confrontation, the Indian opposition parties, military, and media have pressured the government to cancel the foreign minister's plan to visit China," the ruling Communist Party-run Peoples Daily Online said in an article titled "China-India have great wisdom to handle sensitive issues".

"However, Khurshid's visit to China indicates that the development of China-India relations has been quite stable and India attaches great importance to ties with China," the article said.

Khurshid concluded his two-day visit last night after extensive talks with China's new Premier Li Keqiang, State Councillor and Special Representative for India-China boundary talks Yang Jiechi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi regarding the recent border stand-off at Depsang valley and Li's visit to New Delhi later this month.

In its lengthy commentary, the PD Online said, "Sino-India ties have long been complex and sensitive due to some historical issues such as border issue, Tibet and divergence on cross-border water resources."

"In recent years, China and India have risen simultaneously as emerging powers. Western media hypes "the competition between the dragon and the elephant", trying to provoke China-India relations. So how to view and deal with the bilateral ties is a major issue facing both sides," it said.

"The good news is that over the past half century, China and India have learnt from the lessons of history, made efforts to promote mutual trust on politics and security and effectively controlled differences so as to promote the steady development of bilateral relations," it said.

"Especially in the new century, the two sides actively conducted cooperation in various areas and gradually formed a new model of bilateral ties grasping overall situation, inclusiveness and reciprocity," it said.

The article also referred to the "five point proposal" mooted by China's new President Xi Jinping on March 19 in which he called for maintaining strategic communication, expanding mutually beneficial cooperation, strengthening cultural ties and jointly safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of developing world, working together to address global issues, and properly handling problems and differences.

"The new type of China-India ties" outlined that the two sides are partners, not rivals, grasped the general direction of their relations, enhancing mutual political trust, strengthening exchange and cooperation and ensuring that differences do not affect the development of bilateral ties.

"The new model of China-India relations is a continuation and development of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and a useful attempt to establish new relations among major powers of the 21st century," the article said.

"As the two largest developing powers in the world and representatives of the emerging countries, how China and India will get along is closely related to their future and that of the Asia-Pacific region and even the whole world," it said.

PTI