Beijing, April 07:Affairs Minister S M Krishna today said that India and China were involved in “unprecedented engagement” on various fronts to boost their relations and the 60th year of diplomatic ties is the auspicious time to renew efforts to deepen the understanding.
“There is unprecedented engagement between India and China on many fronts whether it be in trade and commerce, high level political interaction, contact between our defence establishments, cultural exchange, education, tourism and the environment,” he said at a reception here hosted to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
“Although unprecedented, this is but a fraction of what we can do together,” he said.
“Sixty years marks a full cycle in the Chinese calendar. In India too, attaining the age of sixty has a special meaning and significance.
“The 60th anniversary of the establishment of our diplomatic relations is an auspicious time to renew our efforts at deeper understanding, greater engagement and enhanced cooperation between our two great nations and peoples,” he said.
Several Chinese dignitaries including senior State Councillor Dai Bingguo attended the reception organised jointly by Embassy of India and the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.
He released a souvenir containing impression of Indians from various walks of life on China and Sino-Indian brought out by the Embassy to mark the occasion.
Several Indian and Chinese artists presented cultural programmes to mark the occasion.
‘Considerable progress on boundary issue’
India and China have made “considerable progress” on the boundary question a resolution for which will be time-consuming, Krishna said while asking both sides to adopt a patient approach and show maturity in dealing with outstanding issues.
“It is going to be a time consuming affair and one has to be patient to deal with it. The special representatives are aware of their responsibilities and we hope a mutually acceptable solution can be arrived at,” he said while addressing a prominent think-tank here.
He said “Even on an issue like the unresolved boundary question that is often the subject of media speculation, it is always not appreciated that considerable progress has actually been made,” he said.
National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon will be India’s representative at the next round of boundary talks with senior State Councillor Dai Bingguo. The two sides have so far held 13 rounds since the mechanism was established in 2003.
–TI