Beijing, Aug 15: Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong on Saturday extended greetings to India on 74th Independence Day and said both countries must strive to prosper together in peace and develop a close partnership.
"Congratulations to the Indian government & people on Independence Day 2020. Wish China & India, two great nations with ancient civilization prosper together in peace and develop with closer partnership," Sun tweeted.
On Friday, the Chinese Embassy had issued a magazine titled 'China-India Review' urging India to "stop all provocative acts to ensure that such incidents will not occur again", months after the clashes at the Galwan Valley in Eastern Ladakh between the two sides left 20 Indian soldiers dead and said the two sides need to build trust rather than suspicion.
"We urge the Indian side to conduct a thorough investigation, hold the violators accountable, strictly discipline the frontline troops and immediately stop all provocative acts to ensure such incidents will not occur again," Sun said.
He said there are ups and downs in any relationship and China-India ties should move "forward rather than backward".
"In any relationship, there are ups and downs. The recent border issue and unfortunate incident between China and India should not detract from the forward-looking vision of the bilateral partnership charted by our two leaders, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Sun said.
He said the two countries need "peace rather than confrontation".
"China and India need to build trust rather than suspicion. We need to respect and accommodate mutual core interests and major concerns and adhere to the principle of non-interference in each other's internal affairs," the envoy wrote.
"China and India need peace rather than confrontation. We should take a long-range view and not allow our differences to become disputes. China and India need to find a fair and reasonable solution to the boundary question, which is mutually acceptable. Pending an ultimate settlement, we should renew our pledge to work together to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas," he said.
The statement comes after Indian Ambassador to China, Vikram Misri on Friday met Major General Ci Guowei, Director of Office of International Military Cooperation of Central Military Commission, China, and briefed him on India's stance on the situation in eastern Ladakh and overall bilateral relations, the Indian Embassy in China said in a tweet.
Earlier this month, India and China held Major General-level talks at Daulat Beg Oldi area to discuss disengagement by the Chinese side along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh sector, said Indian Army sources.
The Chinese are sitting near the Finger 5 and Gogra post in Eastern Ladakh and are refusing to disengage completely from there. India has demanded complete disengagement of the Chinese troops at the earliest.
India has also deployed more than 15,000 troops there along with heavy deployment of armoured regiments to counter any possible Chinese thrust. The Chinese have also come there with several armoured regiments.
India and China have held five rounds of Lieutenant General-level talks between them for disengagement from the eastern Ladakh sector but not much success has been achieved in that direction.
The two countries have been engaged in a standoff in the Eastern Ladakh sector for the past few weeks.
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