Chinese ambassador Luo Zhaohui suggests India-Pak-China trilateral

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 18

Chinese ambassador Luo Zhaohui has suggested an India-Pak-China trilateral on the sidelines of the SCO framework.

He was addressing a seminar on ‘Beyond Wuhan--How far and fast can China-India relations go’.

He said, “Some Indian friends suggested that India, China and Pakistan may have some kind of trilateral summit on the sidelines of the SCO. If China, Russia and Mongolia can have a trilateral summit, then why can’t India, China and Pakistan?”

India and Pakistan became full members of SCO last year and were represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain, respectively, at the recent summit held in Qingdao this month.

Later, responding to questions, he said, “This is a proposal suggested by some Indian friends and I think it is a very good and constructive idea. Maybe not now, but in the future, it will be a step in the right direction to do something to realise this idea.”

MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, however, said: “We have seen reports on comments made by the Chinese Ambassador in this matter. We have not received any such suggestion from the Chinese government. We consider the statement as the personal opinion of the ambassador. Matters related to India-Pakistan relations are purely bilateral in nature and have no scope for involvement of any third country. "

On reports of the BJP literature to its cadres calling China a threat, ambassador Zhaohui said China is not a threat to any country.

He said following the decision at the Wuhan informal summit, India and China will work jointly towards capacity-building in Afghanistan.

“The two sides decided to move forward ‘#ChinaIndiaPlus’ cooperation in #Afghanistan, starting from joint training programme for Afghan civil servants,” the Chinese ambassador said.

Suggesting the way forward for bilateral relations, the ambassador suggested a four-point vision, including signing a treaty of friendship and cooperation, negotiating a bilateral free-trade agreement, enhancing connectivity and working towards early harvest on boundary issues. 

“We cannot stand another Doklam incident. Let’s make a joint effort to maintain peace along the border,” the Chinese envoy emphasised, referring to the 73-day standoff between the India and Chinese armies at the Doklam teri-junction with Bhutan last year.

India and China have a host of high-level engagements lined up, including visits of the Chinese Defence Minister and Minister for Public Security to India and Special Representatives’ Meeting on Boundary Question in Beijing this year. The two foreign ministers will also co-chair the first meeting of high-level people-to-people and cultural exchange mechanism.

Praising China for its enormous economic development and compounding growth at the seminar, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant advocated greater push to Chinese manufacturing in India.

Pushing for easier facilitation to Chinese companies like land, electricity issues, Kant said, “We should really push for many Chinese companies to come manufacture in India. The strategy should be ‘produced by China but made in India,” said Kant. 

India and China have set a bilateral trade target of USD 100 billion by 2022, but the huge trade deficit favouring Beijing is a major concern for Delhi. The ambassador added that China will import more sugar, non-Basmati rice and high-quality medicines from India to reduce trade imbalance.