Important consensus reached by India, Chinese leaders: Chinese ambassador Xu Feihong

New Delhi: Pointing to the "phase of recovery"  in India-China relationship, the Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong has said that "important consensus" had been reached by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi when they met in Kazan, Russia on the sidelines of the BRICS summit last year. Speaking at an event at the Chinese embassy, the ambassador said, "the China-India relationship is one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world. A sound and stable China-India relationship meets the expectations of the two peoples and the international community."

Since the Kazan meet, the foreign ministers of the countries have met two times, in Brazil and South Africa.

In December, India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval had travelled to China for the senior level talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and in January, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri had travelled to China.

Both sides are looking to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra in the summer of 2025, even as they plan to hold an early meeting of the India-China expert-level mechanism to discuss the resumption of provision of hydrological data and other cooperation pertaining to trans-border rivers.

The Chinese ambassador pointed out that these engagements create an "important opportunity for the reboot of China-India relations and provides a broader platform for exchanges and cooperation between the youth of our two countries", explaining that "we should implement the important consensuses reached by the leaders of our two countries, mutually respect each other’s core interests, view each other's development as an opportunity, encourage exchanges and visits in various fields and at different levels, enhance mutual understanding and mutual trust, and work together to achieve common development and rejuvenation".

Ties between the two countries went downhill after the 2020 Galwan clashes. The Kazan meeting of the Indian and Chinese leaders came after a gap of over four years, with focus now on normalisation of ties with steps like restoration of border trade, resumption of Mansarovar Yatra, direct air connectivity being discussed. 

The Ambassador said that China and India are “each other’s development opportunity rather than threat, and cooperation partner rather than competitor”.

He called for the resumption of “exchanges of resident journalists, and full use of the internet and social media to comprehensively present the real China and India”.

He mentioned SCO, BRICS and G20 grouping, of which both India and China are members.

As the rotating presidency of SCO, China will host the SCO Summit this year, and hold over 100 meetings.

He said, "China is willing to work with India and other member states to jointly host a friendly, united and fruitful summit, and contribute "SCO strength" to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.'

During his address, he also mentioned the popularity of Indian movies in China, since the 1950s. Humming “Awaara Hoon”, the ambassador Xu Feihong pointed to the popularity of Awaara movie in the 1950s, Caravan being a household name in China in 1970s/1980s and how Dangal topped Chinese box office earning nearly 1.3 billion yuan.

He said, “in the second decade of the 21st century (2010-2019), India became the second most attractive foreign movie market to Chinese audiences."