Let’s address sensitive issues: Xi to Modi

By Gaurav Sharma

Beijing, June 9 (IANS) China and India should address the "major and sensitive issues" dogging their bilateral ties, Chinese President Xi Jinping conveyed to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their meeting in the Kazakhstan capital Astana on Friday.

Meeting Modi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting in Astana, Xi also congratulated India on becoming a full member of the grouping.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying, briefing newspersons here on the meeting, said Xi told Modi that both sides "should address major and sensitive issues."

"The Chinese side attaches great importance to this relationship with India, and will work together with India to complement each other's major development strategies and stay in close communication and coordinate with each other on major regional and international affairs and maintain sound and steady growth of the bilateral relationship," Hua said quoting Xi.

"During the meeting, Xi pointed out that the current world situation is undergoing profound changes and China and India as two major developing countries in the world should focus more on cooperation and work alongside with each other to provide assistance to each other's developmental growth," she added.

Modi told Xi that the two countries enjoy traditional friendship and a sound and steady bilateral relationship would be conducive to peace and stability in the whole world, Hua said.

Modi said that both nations "should enhance cooperation and coordination in international affairs and deal with sensitive issues between the two countries", according to Hua.

The meeting comes at a time when ties between the two countries have been strained over a host of issues, including Beijing repeatedly blocking New Delhi's bid for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and for a ban on Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Masood Azhar.

China has been upset with India for hosting the Dalai Lama and allowing the Tibetan spiritual leader to visit Arunachal Pradesh, large parts of which Beijing considers as part of southern Tibet.

Xi also stressed the need to develop the Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar corridor, one of the six components of Beijing's One Belt, One Road project.

India is opposed to the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the most important component of the Belt and Road Initiative, which passes through Pakistan-administered Kashmir and even skipped the two-day Belt and Road summit in Beijing in opposition to it.