Societal courtesies make India and China natural Asian allies, a leading Chinese intellectual said here on Friday.
While attending the first-ever "India-China Think-Tanks Forum: Towards a Closer India-China Developmental partnership" here, Yang Jiemian, Director of Academic Studies at the Shanghai Institutes of International Studies, said that when he came for the event, he saw the hall was full but three Indian gentlemen in "advanced age" vacated their chairs for him.
"This is how we Asians treat each other," he said, adding that this would not happen in the US where first-come-first-served was the basis.
One of the most respected Chinese intellectuals, Yang is also the Councillor of the Shanghai Municipal Government, Member of the Foreign Policy Advisory Group in the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Member of the National Evaluation Board of Social Funds, Vice-President of China Association of International Relations and President of Shanghai Society of International Strategic Studies.
The India-China Think-Tanks Forum was set up through a memorandum of understanding signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China in May last year.
--IANS
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