China ready to join India for closer development partnership

BISHKEK - President Xi Jinping said Thursday that Beijing is ready to join New Delhi in pushing forward a closer development partnership between the two sides.

Xi made the remarks during his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the 19th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek.

During the meeting, Xi congratulated Modi again on his re-election as India's prime minister.

Xi noted that China and India are the world's only two emerging economies that boast a population of more than 1 billion respectively, and are both at a crucial stage of rapid development.

Cooperation between the two countries, said the Chinese leader, can not only boost their respective development, but also will contribute to peace, stability and prosperity in Asia and the wider world.

He also said that during his meeting with Modi last year in Wuhan, China's central Hubei Province, they have led the China-India relationship onto a new stage, adding that China is willing to join India to make continuous efforts in promoting a closer development partnership between the two sides.

Xi urged the two sides to stick to the fundamental judgement that China and India offer to each other chances for development, and do not pose each other threats, and called on the two countries to keep deepening mutual trust, focusing on cooperation, and properly handling their disputes so as to turn the bilateral relationship into a positive element for their respective development.

The Chinese president said the two nations need to constantly broaden the channels for cooperation, conduct cooperation in such areas as investment, industrial capacity and tourism, make a bigger cake of common interests, jointly promote regional inter-connectivity, including the construction of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor, in a bid to better boost common development.

He also called on the two sides to make good use of such mechanisms as meetings between the two countries' special representatives on the boundary issue, and enhance trust-building measures so as to preserve stability in border areas.

As important representatives of developing nations and emerging market economies, China and India, said Xi, need to come together to safeguard free trade and multilateralism, and protect the legitimate development rights of developing countries.

Modi said his meeting with Xi last year in Wuhan was very successful, which has helped achieve new progress in bilateral ties, adding that the Indian side is ready to work with China in intensifying high-level exchanges and bolstering strategic communication.

He called on the two sides to promote bilateral ties in broad areas, explore new sectors for cooperation, and properly handle their differences.

Noting that next year marks the 70th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties, Modi said the two countries need to make a good plan for celebration to step up their people-to-people exchanges.