Beijing, 17 Mar

China on Monday "appreciated" Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "positive" remarks on the Sino-Indian ties favouring dialogue over discord and said that a cooperative dance between the elephant and dragon contributing to mutual success is the only choice for both sides.

China noted Prime Minister Modi’s recent positive statement on China-India relations and appreciate it, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a media briefing while responding to a question on the prime minister's remarks in conversation with American podcaster Lex Fridman.

Mao said the successful meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazan, Russia, in October provided strategic guidance for the improvement and development of bilateral ties.

Both sides have earnestly followed through on the important common understandings, strengthened exchanges and achieved positive outcomes.

"Let me stress that in the 2000 plus years’ history of interactions, the two countries have maintained friendly exchanges” and both the countries learned from each other contributing to civilisational achievements and human progress, she said.

As the two largest developing countries, China and India have shared the task of accelerating their development and revitalisation and understand and support each other's successes, she said.

This serves the fundamental interests of over 2.8 billion people, meets the common aspiration of regional countries, and follows the historical trend of the Global South growing stronger and conducive to world peace, she said.

The two countries should be partners that contribute to each other's success and a "cooperative pas de deux", a ballet dance between dragon and elephant, is the "only choice for both sides", she said, retreating the recent comments by Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the development of bilateral ties.

China stands ready to work with India to implement the important common understandings between the two leaders, take the 75th anniversary of the diplomatic relations as an opportunity and advance bilateral ties on the track of stable and sound development, she said.

In his podcast, Modi said normalcy has returned to the India-China border after his recent talks with President Xi to defuse tensions ignited by the 2020 clashes between the two armies in eastern Ladakh.

Sounding optimistic about the ties between the world's two most populous countries, he said differences between neighbours are natural and emphasised the ancient cultural ties between them when the two civilizations learnt from each other and had little conflict.

Asserting that their efforts are aimed at ensuring that their differences do not turn into disputes and preferring dialogue over discord, he said the two countries once contributed over 50 per cent of the global GDP.

"Our cooperation is not only (mutually) beneficial but also essential for global peace and prosperity," he said.