The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh today stressed that both India and China should show sensitivity to each other's core concerns. During the meeting, Dr Manmohan Singh had with his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao in Hanoi, Vietnam, this morning, Dr Singh raised all the difficult issues including that of stapled visas being given by China to the residents of J & K, trade imbalance and boundary question. The Chinese Premier said he hopes to visit India by the year end. Briefing media on the meeting which lasted about 45 minutes, the National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon said the special representatives and officials on both sides have been instructed to work their way to solutions to all the issues that are difficult in their relationship including the boundary question. Elaborating on the discussion on the boundary question, Mr Menon said that the two sides looked forward to early solution to the issue and mentioned the need to take the process forward from the guiding principles and parameters which were agreed to in 2005. Both said they will ask their special representatives to do so with a sense of urgency. The two special representatives on the boundary question will meet by the end of next month. They agreed that in the meantime pending the agreement, they will maintain peace and tranquillity along their boundaries. Both of them took a broader strategic view of their relations and spoke of the their determination to carry their relationship further. In reply to a question on trade imbalance which is heavily in favour of China, Jiabao said that they are conscious of it and they have taken certain steps to address it. Mr Menon said there has been some diminution in the trade imbalance. The two-way trade between the two countries has reached 45 billion dollars in the first nine months and it is expected to reach the target of 60 billion dollars by the end of the year. India has a trade deficit of about 16 billion dollars with China. In his opening remarks, Mr Wen Jiabao said that both countries have viewed and handled their bilateral ties with a strong sense of history and have worked together to build a stable and steady growth of their relationship . He said that to make his visit to India more productive, the two sides should discuss and reach a consensus on some major aspects so as to lay the foundations for the visit. The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said that they have met ten times in the last six years and each time the meeting has been a very rewarding experience. He said that the relations between the two sides have evolved satisfactorily since the Strategic Cooperative Partnership agreement was signed in 2005. He also expressed satisfaction over the growth of trade and economic relations between the two sides. On climate change, they recalled how they have worked together on these and other issues like counter terrorism at the multilateral fora.
News On AIR | October 29, 2010 1:17 PM
PM stresses the need to show sensitivity to all core issues between India and China