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China has said it will support India's bid for permanent membership of the United Nations (UN) Security Council, provided the sides resolve their border dispute in an amicable manner.
"We will support India's seat in the UN Security Council. But neighbours might encounter problems. There has to be a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the border issues. I am confident China and India have the wisdom to embark on good neighbourly relations," Chinese President Xi Jinping said, while addressing an event organised by the Indian Council of World Affairs here on Thursday.
Xi, on a three-day visit to India, said, "We have taken notice of the observation that a grown-up China will be threat to many. A grown-up China will be firmly committed to a peaceful growth…Our goal is to become a modest and humble nation."
Even as reports of more Chinese troops entering Chumar village near the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh poured in, Xi said China believed in "living in harmony" with its neighbours.
"Many Indian friends take great interest in China's development and wish China even more progress. The world has benefited from China's development…I am convinced South Asia, a sub-continent that holds infinite potential, will become a new pole of growth in Asia and beyond. A South Asia that enjoys peace, stability and prosperity serves the interest of the countries and people in the region and of China, too," he said.
On the increasing trade between China and India, he urged India to expedite talks for a regional comprehensive economic partnership.
Quoting verses from Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali, as well as works by early Chinese travellers, he said China had always believed in spreading peace and harmony. He added China was, in the past, looked upon as a great power that gave the world porcelain, tea and silk.
Xi highlighted the fact that once, during a visit to China, Tagore had said he felt at home in that country, adding the poet and philosopher had developed a long-term relationship with Chinese culture.
