India, China should resolve issues through political acumen: President

Beijing, May 26

India and China should comprehensively resolve challenges, including the boundary question, through “political acumen” and “civilisational wisdom” so that the coming generations are not “burdened” by unresolved issues, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Thursday.

Enunciating “8 steps to a partnership of the people” for India-China relations in his address to the Peking University, he noted that there is bipartisan commitment to strengthening partnership with China, and said political understanding between the two countries is vital for “closer developmental partnership”.

“One of the ways it could be done is through enhanced political communication. In India, we have a bipartisan commitment to strengthening our partnership with China. The frequent contacts between our respective leaders bear testimony to this.

“We have broadened the ‘common ground’ and learnt to manage our differences. There are challenges, including the boundary question, that still need to be addressed comprehensively,” he said.

Making his first state visit to China as head of the state, Mukherjee said while it was natural for neighbours to have differences of views on certain issues from time to time, “I consider it a test of our political acumen when we are called upon to draw upon our civilisational wisdom and resolve these differences to the mutual satisfaction of both sides”.

“Both sides should work with the aim of ensuring that we do not burden our coming generations by leaving our unresolved problems to them. I am confident that by ensuring that these matters are not aggravated and by remaining sensitive to mutual concerns, we can minimise our differences and maximise our convergences,” he said. — PTI