Beijing, Aug 13 (UNI) India-China relations are no longer bilateral but have acquired "global dimensions" and the two countries need to keep a strategic view of the direction of the ties, says External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
"Our relationship is so big that it is no longer a bilateral relationship. It has global dimensions," Jaishankar said
in an interview with state-run Xinhua news agency.
As the two largest developing countries and emerging economies, cooperation between India and China is of great importance to the world, which, he said, is "more multi-polar" with changing global order, and both sides need to enhance communication and coordination to contribute to world peace, stability and development.
He said the two countries to respect each other's core concerns, manage differences and find stronger areas of convergence.
Jaishankar, who served as ambassador to China from 2009 to 2013 -- India's longest-serving envoy in Beijing, e said that he is glad to come to China at the beginning of his new role as external affairs minister.
"I feel in this responsibility I can contribute once again to building India-China relations. For me, that's a huge part of my overall foreign policy responsibility."
Next year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and India.
Jaishankar described bilateral ties as "positive."
"When we look back (at the past 69 years), there are many lessons that both of us can take from it. The primary lesson is that it is important for India and China to cooperate closely if we are to realize the Asian century," he said.
During Jaishankar's August 11-13 visit to China, he co-chaired the second meeting of the China-India high-level people-to-people exchanges mechanism with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, agreeing to further promote friendship between the two peoples.
"A lot of people, including young people of both countries, really don't have a good understanding of how much our two cultures of civilizations have affected each other," he said, adding that "promoting a greater awareness of that history" through more cultural exchanges is an important task for the two countries.
The two countries agreed to establish a high-level people-to-people exchanges mechanism in April last year and the first meeting of the mechanism was held in New Delhi in December.
Jaishankar regarded the role of the mechanism as "taking the bilateral relationship from the narrow diplomatic field to a larger societal interaction," saying that the more that people see each other first hand, the more their sense of relating to each other will grow.
"It's important for our relationship to build popular support. Our people must feel good about each other," he said.
UNI SRJ