China-India ties should be viewed from strategic height, long term perspective: Beijing

India and China should handle the bilateral ties from a ‘strategic height and long-term perspective’ while implementing the common understanding reached by the leaders of the two countries, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on January 21, 2025

India and China should handle the bilateral ties from a "strategic height and long-term perspective" while implementing the common understanding reached by the leaders of the two countries, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday (January 21, 2025).

The Ministry was reacting to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s recent remarks that the India-China relationship is trying to disentangle itself from the complications arising from the post-2020 border situation and more thought needs to be given to the longer-term evolution of the ties.

"We need to view and handle the bilateral relations from a strategic height and long-term perspective, bring the relations back to the track of healthy and stable development, and find the right path for big, neighbouring countries to live in harmony and develop side by side," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a media briefing in Beijing.

Also read | India, China have set ties on right track: Jaishankar

Delving into various aspects of New Delhi's relations with Beijing over past decades, Mr. Jaishankar in his Nani Palkhivala memorial lecture in Mumbai on January 18 said, "misreadings" by past policymakers, whether driven by "idealism or absence of realpolitik", has helped neither cooperation nor competition with China.

That has changed in the last decade, he said, adding that mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual sensitivity should remain the basis of the relationship between the two sides. He said that more thought needs to be given to the longer-term evolution of ties.

Responding to a question on Mr. Jaishankar’s remarks, Mr. Guo said that as two major time-honoured civilizations, developing countries and emerging economies, China and India need to focus on development and engage in cooperation.