New Delhi, Sep 6 (IANS) Amid discordant notes in India’s ties with China, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday said India has to take ‘adequate precautions’ but can’t give up on peaceful resolution of issues with China.
Relations between the two Asian powers, the prime minister stressed, continued to be a mix of competition and cooperation.
The effort should be to create a milieu in which there can be peaceful competition, he said during an interaction with senior journalists in New Delhi.
Manmohan Singh was responding to queries on the state of India-China relations after Beijing denied visa to a senior Indian Army general on grounds that his command included Jammu and Kashmir.
Manmohan Singh, on his part, pointed out that he had worked with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao closely.
The prime minister, whose first year in office saw the finalization of guiding principles and political parameters to resolve the boundary question, has always advocated that there was enough room for a rising India and a rising China in the Asian hemisphere.
Manmohan Singh’s comments came amid a difficult phase in India-China relations marred by sharp differences over a host of issues, including Beijing’s practice of issuing stapled visas to residents of Jammu and Kashmir.
The prime minister also made a strong pitch for the need to continue efforts to improve relations with Pakistan despite the July 15 foreign minister-level talks that ended in vitiating the atmosphere further.
‘There are always mishaps,’ in India-Pakistan ties, the prime minister said while stressing that it was his sincere belief that India had to engage Pakistan regardless of the complexity of the set up in that country. He, however, added that he was also sensitive to the Indian public opinion after the Mumbai terror carnage.
Engagement and dialogue were the only way forward in Indo-Pak ties, he said, adding he hoped that Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi would accept Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna’s invitation to visit India.
