India and China shoulder the responsibility of promoting unity and advancing the progress of human society, Beijing said on Sunday, in its official statement on President Xi Jinping's meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Tianjin.
The two leaders spoke for nearly an hour at the meeting that assumed significance amid rapidly improving India-China relations and Washington's tariff tussle. In its statement after the meeting, Beijing said the world's two most populous countries are important members of the Global South.
China and India, it said, "shoulder the important responsibility of benefiting their peoples, promoting unity and revitalization among developing countries, and advancing the progress of human society. Being good-neighbourly friends and partners for mutual success and achieving a 'Dancing of the Dragon and the Elephant' should be the right choice for both China and India."
This was Prime Minister Modi's first visit to China in seven years, especially after the Galwan clashes in 2020. But the two countries have been trying to reconcile, a process that began last October during the two leaders' visit to Russia for the BRICS summit.
"Xi Jinping pointed out that last year's successful meeting in Kazan marked the restart of China-India relations, with exchanges and cooperation between the two countries making continuous progress," the statement read.
PM Modi, too, recalled the Kazan meeting and said it gave a positive direction to India-China relations.
During the meeting, Mr Jinping noted it was the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries. "Both sides should view and handle China-India relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, further elevate them through the Tianjin summit, and promote the sustained, healthy, and stable development of bilateral relations," the statement cited the President as saying.
Jinping said that if India and China commit to being partners and not rivals, and provide development opportunities instead of threats, then China-India relations will flourish and move forward steadily.
"They should expand exchanges and cooperation to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. Both China and India are at a critical stage of development and revitalization. They should focus on development as their greatest common denominator, supporting, promoting, and achieving mutual success," he said.
The statement also recalled the Panchsheel principles. The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence - advocating mutual respect for each other's territory, non-aggression, and peaceful coexistence - was part of the preamble of a 1954 India-China agreement on trade and Tibet. Jinping said these must be cherished and promoted.
"They should work together to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas and not let the border issue define the overall China-India relationship," said the President.
During the meeting, PM Modi told President Jinping that India is committed to taking India-China ties forward based on mutual trust and respect. The disengagement on the border after the 2020 clashes has created an "atmosphere of peace and stability", he said.
PM Modi also noted the resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and direct flights between the two countries, and said India-China cooperation is linked to the interests of 2.8 billion people of the two nations.
