Right choice for India, China to be 'friends', Xi Jinping tells Modi

Chinese President Xi Jinping told Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday that it is the “right choice” for the two countries to be “friends”, asserting that the elephant and dragon should dance together for each other's success.

The talks between the two leaders took place on the margins of the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) here.

“We both shoulder the historical responsibility of improving the well-being of our two peoples, promoting the solidarity and rejuvenation of developing countries, and propelling the progress of human society,” Xi said.

“It is the right choice for both to be friends who have good neighbourly and amicable ties, partners who enable each other's success, and to have the dragon and the elephant dance together,” he said.

Xi said both countries should approach their relations from a strategic and long-term perspective.

“Both sides need to approach and handle our relationship from strategic heights and long-term perspective so as to realise the sustained, sound and steady development of our bilateral ties,” he said.

Xi told Modi that China and India are cooperation partners, not rivals, and that the two countries are each other's development opportunities rather than threats, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

In an apparent dig at US President Donald Trump's unilateral policies, he also said both countries should uphold multilateralism.

India and China should also work for a multipolar world and more democracy in international relations, Xi said.

“We must also step up our historic responsibility to uphold multilateralism, work together to bring about a multipolar world and more democracy in international relations and to make our due contributions to peace and prosperity in Asia and around the world,” he said.

This was their first meeting in about ten months and it assumed significance in view of a sudden downturn in India-US ties triggered by Washington's policies on trade and tariffs.

Xi also told Modi that the world is currently going through once-in-a-century transformations.

“The international situation is both fluid and chaotic. China and India are two ancient civilisations in the east, we are the world's two most populous countries, and we are also the oldest members of the Global South,” he said.