China assures india on joint statement with US

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has responded to India’s concerns regarding a joint Sino-US statement issued in the wake of President Obama’s visit to China in November. That statement had seemed to imply that Washington and Beijing had agreed to keep a joint eye on issues related to South Asia, possibly including the differences between India and Pakistan.

The statement had said that China and the US welcomed all efforts “conducive to peace, stability and development” in South Asia and that they also supported the “improvement and growth of relations between India and Pakistan”.

But on Friday, foreign secretary Nirupama Rao told reporters that Premier Wen had assured Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a half-an-hour long bilateral meeting held at the sidelines of the UN conference on climate change that the formulation of that statement “was not directed at India” and that “China did not have any intention to interfere in the affairs of our (India’s) region.”

The Chinese reassurance comes in the context of stepped up cooperation between India and China at the COP 15 meeting where the two sides have closely coordinated their position throughout.

Rao added that Premier Wen stressed that “without India-China cooperation there would be no Asian century”.

In response Singh expressed his appreciation of Wen’s clarification.