Dai Bingguo, China's special representative for the third round of meeting of Sino-Indian border issue and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister, accepted the interview by People's Daily before leaving India.

Dai said that he was very glad to have the opportunity to meet the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Foreign Minister Natwar Sing during the special meeting on the border issue in New Delhi this time. The two sides exchanged views on bilateral relations and issues of common concern. He held that, first, Indian new leaders attach importance to and devote themselves to developing domestic economy, and continue to push reform, in a bid to benefit the masses of people with achievement of the economic reform more extensively. Second, Indian leaders hope India has a peaceful and stable environment surround. Third, the Indian new government attaches importance to further improving and developing Sino-Indian relations. Dai said, China wish India new and greater achievement in economic and social development and is willing to see India prosper. China appreciates and supports all the active efforts conducive to relaxing and stabilizing the regional situation in South Asia and promoting regional cooperation.

Talking about the current Sino-Indian relations, Dai Bingguo said, over the recent years, with the joint efforts on both sides, the bilateral relations achieved fast improvement with a good momentum. Summit exchanges continued and exchanges in various fields turned more and more frequent, cooperation expanded and became closer, economic and trade cooperation maintained a sustained and rapid development. The bilateral trade volume in the 1990s was only US$ 200 million. The figure jumped to US$ 7.6 billion in 2003 and that till May 2004 has been as high as US$ 5.4 billion, a year-on-year growth of 88 percent. It is expected that the trade can top US$ 10 billion in year-end. The two countries are also maintaining good collaboration and cooperation in international and regional affairs.

On the future of Sino-Indian relations, Dai noted, the new Indian government, sworn in since May 2004, have expressed many times that India hopes to maintain and development Sin-Indian relations, and stressed that the new government is ready to make more active efforts to deepen and expand the long-term constructive partnership with China.

The Chinese side appreciates that. The Chinese government firmly observes the principle of good-neighborliness on India, sticks to the policy: to become a good neighbor and a good partner, devotes itself to developing long-term stable, extensive, in-depth and friendly mutual-beneficial cooperative relations. China and India, both ancient civilizations as well as neighboring countries both with a large population, have great potential in cooperation in various fields. The two countries' continued good-neighborliness, mutual beneficial cooperation agrees with the fundamental interests of the two countries, and is also conducive to the peace and development of the region and en the whole world.

Dai concluded that China believes that the Sino-Indian friendly cooperative relations will surely embrace a brighter future as long as the two countries give priority to the overall bilateral relations and long-term interests, seize the historical opportunity, make unswervingly joint efforts, and solve appropriately the problems left by the history. China and India, major neighbors to each other, should develop and prosper together and strengthen cooperation, and this will greatly benefit the two countries and the peoples and make its due contribution to the peace, development, civilization and progress of the entire mankind.

By People's Daily Online