China bids adieu to Manmohan Singh, praises efforts to improve Sino-Indian ties

BEIJING: China today bid farewell to outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, praising his "unremitting efforts" to improve Sino-Indian ties.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing here that China valued ties with India as it is Beijing's close neighbour and the relationship in recent years has progressed with steady momentum.

Hua praised Singh's contribution for the establishment of India-China strategic cooperative partnership.

Singh's unremitting efforts made an important contribution to the development of close relations between the two countries and the Chinese people widely respect him for that, Hua said in e-mail response to questions from PTI.

She specially praised Singh's proposition that the "world has enough space to accommodate China and India", which she said won wide recognition.

During Singh's tenure China and India reached agreement on the political guiding principles to resolve the border issue through amicable negotiations in order to seek a fair and reasonable solution acceptable to both sides and to jointly safeguard peace and tranquillity in the border, she said.

"The Chinese side expresses its appreciation for the contribution made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for Sino-Indian relations," she said.

The two sides also concluded a Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA) last year to deal with issues relating to patrolling of the disputed border to avert tensions.