Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that stable and amicable bilateral relations between India and China are crucial for Asia and the world.
“Stable, predictable, and amicable bilateral relations between India and China, as two neighbours and the two largest nations on earth, can have a positive impact on regional and global peace and prosperity. This is also crucial for a multi-polar Asia and a multi-polar world,” Modi said in a wide-ranging interview with the Japanese media outlet Yomiuri Shimbun.
He underlined that improved Sino-India relations were also important for bringing stability to the global economic order.
“Given the current volatility in world economy, it is also important for India and China, as two major economies, to work together to bring stability to the world economic order. India is ready to advance bilateral relations from a strategic and long-term perspective on the basis of mutual respect, mutual interest and mutual sensitivity, and to enhance strategic communication to address our developmental challenges,” the Indian leader added.
Modi’s remarks come amid a thaw in relations between the two Asian giants and Himalayan neighbours, after the US administration singled out India for its crude imports from Russia, claiming that the world’s largest democratic state was fuelling the Ukraine conflict.
Interestingly, Modi is set to attend the summit of the leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Tianjin during the weekend, where he is scheduled to hold crucial one-to-one meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Putin.
His in-person attendance at the SCO summit holds immense significance, considering that it will be Modi’s first visit to China since the Galwan Valley clash between the troops of the two nations in 2020, which resulted in casualties on both sides.