India, China bilateral relations to thaw in future, says envoy

Indian Ambassador to China Gautam Bambawale on Friday (June 08) said New Delhi and Beijing have moved past the Himalayan border stand-off and were looking at settling differences and enhancing cooperation.

Last year, India and China were engaged in a 73-day standoff at Doklam in the Sikkim sector. The stand-off was called off after both sides arrived at an understanding over the disengagement of their personnel.

Bambawale, while speaking to reporters ahead of the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit scheduled to be held in east China's coastal city of Qingdao, said Doklam was "a thing of past" and both the countries were working on their differences through dialogue.

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China and India share frictional associations as two powerful economies in south Asia. Their rather smooth trade relations are marred by decades old border disputes along the Himalayan region.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will depart for Quingdao for a two-day visit to attend the SCO summit on Saturday (June 09). He is also scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese President XI Jinping, during which the two leaders are expected to hold dialogues aimed at deepening ties in areas of trade and investment.

Bambawale said the SCO summit will revolve around wide-ranging areas like defence and security, and counter-militancy.

India became a full member of the China-dominated SCO grouping last year. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation was formed in 2001 and includes other countries like China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan andPakistan.