Open and useful exchanges with China during Strategic Dialogue: India

India and China had "open and useful" exchanges on Afghanistan, counter-terrorism and nuclear issues during their recent Strategic Dialogue and felt talks should continue in cases where they failed to find a common ground, the External Affairs Ministry said on Tuesday. 

Asserting that the Dialogue in its restructured form was a productive exercise that addressed the full complexity of bilateral ties, Ministry Spokesperson Gopal Baglay said it was important that a "balanced and objective" view of what was clearly one of the key relationships in international politics was taken. "Our assessment is that the recent meeting was positive and constructive. We both agreed that at the time when the global situation is in flux, a more stable, substantive and forward-looking India-China relationship was good for the international system.

"The two sides had open and useful exchanges on Afghanistan, UN, counter-terrorism and nuclear issues. While in some cases, we found common ground, in others, it was felt that dialogue should continue further," Baglay said.
He further said on the bilateral side, there was appreciation of progress on areas like investment and tourism. At the same time, both sides articulated their respective concerns and remain committed to working together in that regard, he added.

The Spokesperson's remarks sought to give an "accurate picture" of what transpired during the Dialogue in view of a "number of press commentaries" on it including a recent article in Chinese government-run Global Times.