In China’s tribute-lateral offer, Govt, opposition stand united
India said that matters related to India-Pakistan relations are purely bilateral in nature and that there is no scope for involvement of any third country, reacting to Chinese envoy Luo Zhaohui's comments endorsing trilateral cooperation among India, China and Pakistan to resolve such issues.
The
opposition
Congress
party
also
condemned
the
Chinese
ambassador's
statement.
Endorsing
the
idea
of
trilateral
cooperation
between
India,
China
and
Pakistan
under
the
aegis
of
the
Shanghai
Cooperation
Organisation,
Luo
said
it
could
"in
the
future"
help
resolve
bilateral
issues
between
New
Delhi
and
Islamabad
and
help
maintain
peace.
In response to queries on the comments made by the Chinese Ambassador to India on a possible trilateral summit between India, China and Pakistan, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said India had not received any such suggestion from the Chinese government.
"We have seen reports on comments made by the Chinese Ambassador in this matter. We have not received any such suggestion from the Chinese government. We consider the statement as the personal opinion of the Ambassador. Matters related to India-Pakistan relations are purely bilateral in nature and have no scope for involvement of any third country," he said.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said the Government of India should also strongly condemn the "unwarranted suggestion" of the Chinese Ambassador and that all issues between India and Pakistan would be resolved as per the Shimla Agreement.
The Chinese Ambassador said "some Indian friends" had suggested trilateral cooperation comprising India, China and Pakistan under the aegis of the SCO, which was a "very constructive idea".
"Security cooperation is one of the three pillars of the SCO. Some Indian friends suggested that China, India and Pakistan may have some kind of trilateral cooperation under the SCO," he said in his keynote address on 'Beyond Wuhan: How Far and Fast can China-India Relations Go' at an event organised by the Chinese Embassy here.
Responding to a question on whether a trilateral meet between the Asian neighbours will help in solving the India-Pakistan dispute, he said he personally considered it "a good and constructive idea".