India and China should manage and resolve their differences through dialogue and consultation and not allow them to escalate into disputes, said Chinese Ambassador Sun Weidong in the context of the stalemate in troop withdrawal along the Royal Line of Control. .
Without referring directly to the military standoff in LAC’s Ladakh sector that has entered its sixth month, the envoy said it was “normal” for two major neighbors like India and China to have differences. The common interests of the two parties “far outweigh the frictions and differences,” he added.
Sun made the remarks during his speech at an online symposium organized by the Chinese embassy Tuesday to mark the 110th anniversary of the birth of Dwarkanath Kotnis, an Indian physician revered by the Chinese people for his services during the 1938 Sino-Japanese War. Kotnis died in China in 1942. The text of the envoy’s speech was published by the embassy on Wednesday.
“Recently, bilateral relations have faced some difficulties and challenges. As two important neighboring countries, it is normal to have differences. We need to put differences in an appropriate place in bilateral relations, manage them properly and resolve them through dialogue and consultation and not allow differences to turn into disputes, “Sun said in his speech.
“The common interests of the two countries far outweigh the frictions and differences. I believe that with the joint efforts of both parties, we have the wisdom and the ability to overcome difficulties and get bilateral relations back on track to move forward, “he added.
There was no immediate response from Indian officials to the Chinese envoy’s comments.
Despite the seventh round of talks between senior military commanders on Monday, India and China have been unable to push forward the process of withdrawal and de-escalation in Ladakh, where both sides have arranged tens of thousands of troops who have barricaded themselves for the winter. Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in a clash in June, which also resulted in unspecified Chinese casualties.
Troops on both sides have also fired warning shots, the first time weapons have been used in LAC since 1975.
The Chinese envoy said that the two countries now face the common task of achieving economic and social development and “need to enhance mutual trust and strengthen cooperation more than ever to write a new chapter in the China-India friendship.”
All countries are also facing serious challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and, as the only two major developing countries with a population of more than one billion each, China and India must strengthen cooperation and “overcome current difficulties. together, “Sun said.
“In recent months, we have witnessed the exchange of diagnostic and treatment experiences between Chinese and Indian medical institutions, the donation of medical supplies by friendly companies and organizations, and videos recorded by young people and movie stars of the two. countries to cheer each other on. The spirit of Dr. Kotnis has been carried forward through concrete actions and given a new connotation of the time, ”he said.
India has demanded the restoration of the status quo that existed throughout LAC in April and accused Chinese troops of obstructing Indian patrols and violating LAC. The Chinese side responded by saying that the construction of infrastructure throughout LAC and the deployment of troops by India were the main causes of the tensions.
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