India, China need to avoid confrontation: Envoy

BQ:

We should handle relations cautiously, and resolutely avoid the whirlpool of suspicion and confrontation. Our relations today are hard-earned and should be cherished all the more. — Sun Weidong, chinese envoy

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 30

Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong today compared India-China ties to “glass” and said neither side wanted the Galwan Valley incident to happen.

The envoy, however, stuck to the stand that Indian troops were to blame for having adopted an aggressive stance on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) since April this year.

He was speaking at a webinar organised by the Institute of Chinese Studies headed by former Indian envoy to China Ashok Kantha.

Sun disagreed with the opinion of former Indian envoys to Beijing that India-China ties were at a turning point after the Galwan Valley clash.

“At this critical moment, we should handle relations cautiously, and resolutely avoid the whirlpool of suspicion and confrontation. Our relations today are hard-earned and should be cherished all the more,” he said, while asking them not to jump to conclusions on the basis of “temporary differences and difficulties”.

Besides reiterating the views already expressed by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Sun cautioned against India’s imposition of punitive measures on Chinese trade and investment.

“Our economies are highly complementary, interwoven and interdependent. Forced decoupling is against the trend and will only lead to a ‘lose-lose’ outcome,” he said.