India-China cooperation must for Asian stability: VP

Even as India is trying to unravel the full meaning of the recent China-US joint statement indicating a role for Beijing in relations between India and Pakistan, Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari today said active partnership and mutual sensitivity between India and China is necessary for stability, security and prosperity in Asia.

President Barack Obama and President Hu Jintao, in a joint statement in Beijing this week, said the United States and China would together support the improvement and growth of relations between India and Pakistan. But to assuage New Delhi where it has been interpreted by a section of intelligentsia that the US has agreed to assign the role of an interlocuter to China in India-Pakistan relations, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns said America is interested in pursuing "the best and healthiest possible partnership with China, but not at the expense of another equally important country, India." Speaking at a seminar on "Emerging China: Prospects for Partnership in Asia", the Vice President said Indian and Chinese interests intersect across Asia and hence active partnership between New Delhi and Beijing and mutual sensitivity to each others concerns is vitally necessary for stability, security and prosperity in the region. He said leaderships of the two countries have cooperated in creating mutual political and economic stakes for mutual benefit in the last two decades. "Economic cooperation between us has become a principal driver of our strategic and cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity." At the same time, Mr Ansari said "...cooperation does not preclude competition. We realise that countries compete in global markets and such competition is constructive and beneficial rather than adversarial." The seminar was jontly organised by the Indian Council of World Affairs and the Association of Asia Scholars.

-- (UNI) -- 21DI38.xml

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