'Imperative' for India and China to respect each other's core interests: Wang

Beijing: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said that it is "imperative" for India and China to respect each other's "core interests" and take concrete actions to implement the "important consensus" reached by the leaders of both countries.

Wang, who is in New Delhi to attend the BRICS NSA conference, made the remarks during his meeting with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Monday, according to China's state-run Xinhua news agency.

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During their meeting, Wang and Doval discussed the bilateral relations and progress of the normalisation process.

Both Wang and Doval are the Special Representatives of the India-China border issue.

India is an important neighbour of China, and bilateral relations have returned to the track of recovery and improvement, said Wang, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the ruling Communist Party of China and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs.

Wang noted that the leaders of the two countries agreed that China and India are partners instead of rivals, thus forming the most important strategic consensus between the two sides, providing an important impetus and strategic guarantee for the healthy and stable development of China-India relations, according to an official press release issued here on Monday night on the Doval-Wang meeting.

As the two economies with the largest populations, China and India should not only view bilateral relations from a long-term perspective, but also promote cooperation between the two countries from a global perspective, Wang said.

He noted that both sides should take concrete actions to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, promote their respective development and revitalisation through cooperation, and accelerate the modernisation process of the Global South.

"It is imperative to respect each other's core interests, properly handle sensitive issues, and place the China-India border issue in an appropriate position, so that it doesn't affect the overall situation of bilateral relations," Wang said.

He also underlined the need to advance the restoration of dialogue mechanisms and promote exchanges in various fields, such as trade, finance, law enforcement and media, Xinhua reported, quoting the official press release.

The two sides should also actively guide all sectors of society to form a correct understanding, and lay a solid public opinion and social foundation for improving bilateral relations, Wang added.

In New Delhi, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal on Monday said that the Doval-Wang discussions were "constructive and forward-looking".

"NSA Doval underlined that stable, predictable and constructive bilateral relations contribute to building of trust and better understanding between the two sides," he said.

India and China rolled out a series of measures in the last over one year to rebuild their relationship after it witnessed a major downturn following the deadly Galwan Valley clashes in 2020 and the subsequent military face-off that lasted for over four years.

In August last year, Doval and Wang held Special Representatives dialogue in New Delhi that produced a number of outcomes to maintain peace along the border.