Sino-Indian ties can't be duplicated: State media

The Sino-Indian cooperation is of enormous strategic value for New Delhi and such a relationship cannot be "duplicated" by its bilateral ties with any other country, an influential official Chinese daily said today, coinciding with the visit of President Xi Jinping to India.
State-run Global Times, part of the ruling Communist Party of China's People's Daily publication group, said in an editorial that the Sino-Indian cooperation is "invaluable".
"The geopolitical significance of the benign development of Beijing-New Delhi ties can't be duplicated," said the daily known for its nationalistic views.
"The better China-India relations develop, the more advantages and initiatives India can have when dealing with the US and Japan."

China has been regarded as their biggest rival by the US and Japan, who instinctively try to rope in China's neighbours to their cause, the editorial said.
"A positive New Delhi-Beijing engagement would force Washington and Tokyo to cosy up to India," it said.

On the global strategic chessboard, Japan and India wield nearly the same influence. In contrast to Japan's hostile policy towards China, India follows a cooperative principle.
"Therefore, Japan has to seek the favour of India, not the other way around," it said.
Xi is the first leader of a major power to visit India after the Narendra Modi-led government took charge, it said. His first stop is in Prime Minister Modi's home state of Gujarat on Modi's 64th birthday.

"This is viewed as a starting point for the two leaders to develop a personal friendship," the editorial said.
Referring to Modi's recent visit to Japan, the daily said the "floods of rhetoric such as 'joining hands to counter China' emanated from Japanese public opinion to which Modi gave a rational response at the time."
"Now it seems that this mentality from many Japanese is very wide of the mark."
China has a long-term strategy for a friendly cooperation with India, rather than seeking short-term gains, it said adding that "for us, the Sino-Indian relationship, with its own strategic merits, doesn't have to be associated with ties with other major powers."

"Both China and India are continent-sized countries but have embarked on different paths and developed different advantages.
"We need to discover more of the common interests between the two countries which will have a stunning purchasing power upon humanity's future," it said.