India, China have "full spectrum relationship": Shiv Shankar Menon

CHENNAI: India and China have transformed their once "adversarial relationship" to that of a "full spectrum" one and there was no reason to doubt the neighbours' ability to solve differences in the future, National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon said today.

"We have come a long way from the days of sixties and early seventies when it was an adversarial relationship, dominated by a single issue and when communication between the two states and societies was minimal", Menon said.

In a prepared speech of Menon read out at a seminar on "India & China: The Way Forward", he said, today both had a "full spectrum relationship which includes elements of cooperation and competition and which is significant not only for the two countries but for the region and the world."

The moving forward in relationship was possible due to the leadership in either country recognising the fact that it was in their interest to do so and that the "costs of sterile confrontation" were borne by both and "benefited others."

Besides, such transformation was also possible by the fact that they were engaged in mammoth tasks of domestic transformation which must take priority over external entanglements and complications, Menon said.

Recalling visits of former Prime Ministers AB Vajpayee (as then Foreign Minister) and Rajiv Gandhi in 1979 and 1988, he said these resulted in 'relatively peaceful' border and progress had been made in discussions on boundary settlement.

"The rest of the relationship has developed rapidly while we address the boundary question. Our trading economic relationship is one of the most important that India has", he said, adding, New Delhi and China worked together on several international issues and find that their interests 'coincide' on several global matters.