Ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit later this month, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said Monday that India-China ties are "very good" and that "substantive and solid" outcomes are expected from the visit
Sushma Swaraj
New Delhi: Ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit later this month, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said Monday that India-China ties are "very good" and that "substantive and solid" outcomes are expected from the visit.
Sushma Swaraj. Pic/Rajeev Tyagi
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Addressing her first press conference since taking charge of the ministry in May, she also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi during their bilateral meeting in July in Brazil shared a "very, very good relationship".
To a question on what could be expected of the Modi-Xi meeting, Sushma Swaraj said: "We have very good relations with China, but I must articulate that our relationship is that of cooperation and competition."
"Prime Minister Modi met President Xi Jinping in Fortaleza... had very, very good relationship, and I think the outcome of this visit will be substantive and solid," she said.
Sushma Swaraj also clarified that the "expansionist" remark by Prime Minister Modi during his Japan visit was not in reference to any country and added that the media was responsible for inferring it was targeted at China.
"He (Modi) never referred to a particular country. It was the media's inference. He specifically spoke about the 18th century," she said in response to a query on the import of Modi's remark where he referred to "expansionist" twice in his speech.
Modi, during his Japan visit, deplored the "expansionist" tendency among some countries which "encroach" upon seas of others.
"We have to decide if we want to have 'vikas vaad' (development) or 'vistar vaad' (expansionism) which leads to disintegration. Those who follow the path of Buddha and have faith on 'vikas vaad', they develop. But we see, those having ideas of the 18th century, engage in encroachments and enter seas (of others)," Modi had said.
Swaraj also said that she had conveyed to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his visit in June that like India believes in a one-China policy with regard to Taiwan, Beijing should also affirm the one-India policy - with regard to Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
China has been issuing stapled visas for Indians from both the states as it considers the areas "disputed".
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