India and China are sitting down to discuss their future, conscious that it rides on the ability to manage contradictions, which is no small development, former foreign secretary S Jaishankar said here.
The former top diplomat, who served as Ambassador to China and the United States, was addressing a lecture organised by the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), a think tank at the National University of Singapore, yesterday.
Touching upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan, the capital of central China's Hubei province, he said that world history has shown the dangers of rising powers remaining self-absorbed.
"Growing capabilities and influence actually require greater engagement with the world, not less," Jaishankar said.
"As Asia rises, there are lessons that could be drawn from the experiences of others, especially Europe. It would appear that this realisation is as strong in Beijing as it is in New Delhi," said the former envoy, a distinguished visiting research fellow at the ISAS.
"India-China relations have always had a global context and will always have one. In an uncertain world, the Wuhan meeting was an important step in the direction of greater stability," he said.
More From This Section
If its bilateral implications are concerned, the focus seems to have been on measures to strengthen stability and manage differences, Jaishankar said, adding that some extra effort seemed to have gone into finding common ground, whether on trade or on Afghanistan.
These are actually the only two nations with over a billion in population each. They are also among the world's major economies now. Their experiences in development and governance are worth exchanging, he said.
The intent of the Wuhan Summit was actually laid out last June when the two leaders met in Astana. At that time, they declared that the relationship between India and China must be a factor of stability in an uncertain world, the former diplomat said. "They also desired that differences between India and China should not become disputes."