NEW DELHI: India’s National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon has said there is space in Asia and the world for both India and China to grow

and develop.

He was speaking in a seminar ‘India and China, public diplomacy, building understanding’ organised by Indian Council of World Affairs on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Indo-China diplomatic ties.

“Our experience suggests that there is space in Asia and the world for both India and China to grow and develop, and for us to do so in a way that is mutually reinforcing, if we both wish it. We also have the experience and ability in India and China to continue to manage our relationship successfully.”

Menon said India and China both cooperated and competed at the same time but relations between them were too important to be affected by their relations with any third country.

He said the differences in world view, structure, systems and foreign policy decision making had not prevented and would not prevent an expanding engagement between India and China. “The two countries have found a modus vivendi to deal with the fact of the boundary issue and to manage their different approaches to issues where their peripheries overlap,” the NSA added. “Today China is India’s largest trading partner in goods and India is one of China’s largest markets for project exports. India and China cooperate in international organisations and on global issues,” the NSA said.

“In the immediate region in which both countries are located, there is common ground between India and China on combating terrorism and extremism, enhancing maritime security, and on the need for a peaceful environment to permit the domestic transformation of the countries,” he added.

Chinese Ambassador to India Zhang Yan said while China and India were striving to seek acceptable solutions to the boundary issue and other differences, both sides agreed not to let those differences stand in the way of bilateral cooperation.

“There are no fundamental differences and conflicts between China and India, let alone, China and India are rivals or threat to each other. The two are partners for development,” he said.