The two issues came up during President Pranab Mukherjee's talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang at the Great Hall of the People on the penultimate day of his four-day maiden state visit to China.
Largely, there was appreciation of the President's visit by the Chinese leadership and all the three leaders acknowledged his positive role in building the bilateral relationship during his long political career in different capacities. However, there was acknowledgment of differences.
The President raising the issues of cooperation in combating terrorirsm and the need for a predictable nuclear regimes assumes significance in the context of China's action in blocking the United Nations' move to blacklist Jaish-e- Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist and the bid to block India's admission to the NSG on the ground it has not signed the Non-Proflieration Treaty (NPT).
Essentially what was conveyed to China during the discussions was that it was a global fight against terrorism and India and China are affected by it.
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"We must have an expansion of cooperation both bilaterally and multilaterally through close cooperation in the UN. Broadly, there was acceptance on this position. We want cooperation in the UN," the foreign secretary said.
Asked whether the JeM issue was specifically raised, he said, "the President specifically referred to the menace of transborder terrorism. There was no good or bad terrorism and they should take into account each other's sensitivities. We have spoken on cross border terrorism and zero tolerance on terrorism. No good or bad terrorists and they should cooperate closely in the UN on this issue."
Interestingly, in the Chinese briefing to the media after talks between Mukherjee and Xi, officials said though there was no direct discussion about India's access to NSG, the two leaders mentioned the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and agreed to strengthen cooperation and exchanges in this regard.
On the civil nuclear programme, the broad approach
Mukherjee took was that like many other countries India suffered from acute shortage of power with over 300 million people having no access to energy. At the same time, it was conscious of the responsibility of the need to balance requirement with responsibilities on climate change.
On the vexed border issue, both sides acknowledged the fact that differences should not come in the way of improving ties in other areas. The main intention was to maintain peace and tranquility while addressing the boundary question.
Besides, Xi and Li, the President also met the Chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Zhang Dejiang.
Mukherjee told the Chinese leadership that there was a multi-party consensus on improving ties with China. The fact that he was accompanied by a delegation of MPs from different parties was a demonstration of this fact.
The message of heightened responsibility was something that came through very clearly. There was a fair amount of discussion on economic issues with the President highlighting India's trade deficit with China.
Trade deficit between India and China has risen to USD 44.7 billion during April-January period of 2015-16.
India's exports to China stood at USD 7.56 billion during the period whereas the imports has jumped to USD 52.26 billion in April-January. In 2014-15, the deficit was aggregated at USD 48.48 billion, according to official figures.
The Chinese showed a lot of interest in the government's flagship programmes like Digital India and smart cities schemes and that investment climate was improving because of relaxation of rules to enable ease of doing business in India.
The Chinese appreciated that high-level visits between the two countries played a positive role in improving relations and all the three Chinese leaders fondly recalled the memories of their visits to India in the last three years.
Mukherjee extended an invitation to Xi to visit India which he accepted.