New Delhi: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in Beijing and expressed full confidence in Sino-India relations, hoping that “new progress” would be made in the ties in the New Year.
India will soon be a member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), a powerful international grouping of 21 countries including the United States and Japan, which promotes free trade among its members.
At the end of the 13th meeting of RIC (Russia, India, and China) foreign ministers, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Monday, “India's participation in APEC has been welcomed by both China and Russia.”
At the end of their day-long deliberations in the Chinese capital on Monday, the foreign ministers of the Russia-India-China (RIC) grouping issued a comprehensive joint communiqué that called for an ambitious reform of an international system that was respectful of the diversity of home-grown political systems.
“Acknowledging India's important role in driving global economic growth, and supporting the openness of APEC, China and Russia would welcome India's participation in APEC,” the joint communique issued after the RIC foreign ministers meeting stated.
“Russia and China have also welcomed our participation in SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation),” Swaraj said. SCO, formed in 2001, is a Eurasian bloc that includes Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan besides China and Russia.
Swaraj also said the RIC has supported a 1996 proposal tabled by India in the United Nations on countering terrorism. “Both Russia and China have accepted the proposal,” she said, indicating that the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) may finally see the light of day.
Swaraj also had a bilateral meeting with her Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. This was their first meeting after Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to India in December. The two ministers had discussions on the high-level bilateral interactions that are likely during the year, including at the BRICS summit in Russia in July. During the day, Swaraj launched the Visit India programme along with Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Yang.
India and China's relation is expected to get better with passing days. As Indian Prime Minister will visit China in May, Xi is expected to take him to Xian, capital of his home province Shaanxi. The motive behind is this to recreate the bonhomie generated by Modi who had taken the Chinese President to Ahmedabad, the capital of his home state Gujarat.
