Hope to take ties to a higher plane, says Chinese President Xi

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday hoped to take the strategic and cooperative partnerhip with India for peace and prosperity to a “higher plane” even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue of Chinese incursions in Ladakh with the visiting leader.

Xi started the New Delhi leg of his three-day visit to India with a ceremonial reception being accorded to him at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday morning, a day after Modi unrolled a grand welcome for him on his home turf breaking from protocol, to set the stage for Thursday’s summit talks.

The summit talks between Modi and Xi on the second day of latter’s visit began in Hyderabad House against the backdrop of Chinese and Indian troops being involved in a face-off along their border in the Ladakh region in Jammu and Kashmir.

“The summit meetings are occasion for leaders to raise all substantive issues having bearing on bilateral ties, The PM took the opportunity to raise the issue on Wednesday night with the visiting dignitary,” ministry of external affairs spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said on Thursday responding to a query on the Chinese incursions.

The issue will be further raised by the Indian side on Thursday when the two leaders meet for a summit meeting, he said. Modi, who hosted a private dinner for Xi in Ahmedabad after his arrival there on a three-day visit on Wednesday, conveyed India’s concern over the Chinese incursions, sources said.

In a brief interaction with reporters at the Rashtrapati Bhavan after being given a ceremonial guard of honour, Xi expressed the hope that China and India will take their strategic and cooperative partnership to a higher plane.

He said he had come to India with three goals which were aimed at strengthening the bilateral ties and building strong complementarities in the two economies. Xi said the two countries can work with each other on common development to benefit people of the two countries. “Through this visit, I hope to work with Indian leadership to build strong relations between China and India and to partner with each other to take our strategic and cooperative partnerhip for peace and prosperity to a higher level.

“We plan to partner with each other to take our strategic and cooperative partnership of peace and prosperity to a higher plane,” Xi said.

Before his summit talks, Xi also visited Rajghat, the samadhi of Mahatma Gandhi to pay homage to the Father of Nation. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also called on Xi.

The Chinese leader said the first purpose of his visit is to carry forward the friendship between the two countries. “China and India are both ancient civilisations with thousands of years of friendly interaction with each other. We also admire and respect each others’ civilisation.

“It is important that we translate the friendly contacts and make sure that we will follow what we promise each other,” Xi, who was flanked by President Pranab Mukherjee and Modi, told reporters.

Xi said his second goal is to deepen the cooperation. “Both China and India are emerging markets. It is important that we increase cooperation so that the people of China and India are benefited from it.” The two countries, he said, should also focus on core areas.

The visiting president said that his third goal is to pursue development together as both the countries had development as their priority. “It is important that we deepen our relationship and develop a close developmental partnership,” he said.

“We are also two important forces in increasingly multi-polar world. Therefore, our relationship has strategic and global significance,” he said.