Spokesperson says China, India should focus on development, cooperation

BEIJING, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- As two major developing countries and emerging economies, China and India should concentrate on development and cooperation, and bring bilateral relationship back on the track of healthy and stable development, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Tuesday.

The spokesperson made the remarks at a daily press briefing when asked to comment on Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar's recent speech, in which he said that India-China ties bear on the larger prospects of both nations and of the global order, and that India will handle its relations with China from a long-term perspective.

As two ancient civilizations, major developing countries and emerging economies, China and India should focus on development and cooperation, Guo said.

This serves the fundamental interests of the two countries' over 2.8 billion people, responds to common aspirations of countries and people in the region, corresponds with the trend of the remarkable growth of the Global South, and is conducive to regional and global peace and prosperity, Guo said.

Guo noted that the two sides need to earnestly deliver on the important common understandings reached between the leaders of the two countries, including that China and India are each other's development opportunity rather than threat, and cooperation partner rather than competitor.

"We need to view and handle the bilateral relations from a strategic height and long-term perspective, bring the relations back to the track of healthy and stable development, and find the right path for big, neighboring countries to live in harmony and develop side by side," Guo said.

The two countries should adhere to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, practice genuine multilateralism, advocate an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, and make greater contributions to safeguarding and promoting world peace, stability, development and prosperity, the spokesperson added.