India FM calls for closer ties with China

BEIJING: China and India need to stop viewing each other as competitors and start working together to influence global issues such as climate change and trade, Indian Foreign Minister S. M. Krishna said Tuesday.

Krishna said the neighboring countries can leverage one another's strengths to influence global issues through participation in world and regional groups such as the rich countries' G-20 and BRIC, which groups Brazil, Russia, India and China.

``India and China have only begun to impact seriously on the world,'' Krishna told a think-tank in Beijing.

``Just as we advanced decolonization and independence movements in the '50s, today we are striving to rewrite the rules of the world a little more in our favor,'' he said.

During his four-day trip, Krishna said he will meet his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi to discuss bilateral, regional and global issues, and meet with representatives of Indian companies in China to encourage new opportunities.

``On the Chinese side, outsourcing of IT by state enterprises has only started recently,'' said Krishna. ``There is potential waiting to be tapped, which would happen only by connecting Chinese users to Indian providers.''

Krishna brushed over sensitive issues such as a border dispute that sparked a war in 1962 and still causes tensions between the world's largest developing nations.

``We have to accept that there will be outstanding issues between the two countries even as our relationship forges ahead,'' said Krishna. ``Even on an issue like the unresolved boundary question that is often the subject of media speculation, it is not always appreciated that considerable progress has actually been made.''

Krishna is in Beijing to take part in celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the countries.