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| Tuesday, 24 June 2003 |
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India, China agree on need for more trust and cooperation BEIJING, Monday (AFP) India and China agreed Monday on the need for more trust and cooperation to give new impetus to often-frosty bilateral ties on the first day of a visit by Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Vajpayee, the first Indian leader to visit China in a decade, was officially welcomed by Premier Wen Jiabao and a 19-cannon salute on Tiananmen Square. The two held bilateral discussions on "regional and international issues of common concern" and pledged friendlier relations in talks which were scheduled to last for 30 minutes but ran on to an hour. " ... I have brought from India ties of peace, friendship, trust and cooperation," said Vajpayee at the Great Hall of the People. "India and China are neighbours and they are the two countries on earth with the biggest populations and fastest economic growth. "We have had a long history of exchanges in civilisation, history, religion and culture."India attaches great importance to having cooperative relations with China. I hope my trip to China will strengthen trust and understanding between the two countries, peoples and governments and further promote our broad cooperation." Wen said he "fully agrees" on the need for bolstering ties and was optimistic that Vajpayee's groundbreaking visit would reap dividends. "The Chinese government attaches importance to your visit and the Chinese people pay close attention to your visit," he said. "I believe that your current visit will certainly yield a major impact on the further development of our relationship in the future." Chinese experts quoted in official media Monday said the visit would usher in a new chapter in Sino-Indian ties. "Under the current complex and volatile international situation, this visit - to which both countries have attached great importance - will write a new chapter in Sino-Indian bilateral ties," Sun Shihai from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences was quoted as saying in the China Daily. |
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