Friday 15 / November / 2024
New Delhi/Beijing: China joining hands with India in the fight against terrorism will have "its own impact", President Pranab Mukherjee said on Wednesday in comments that come against the backdrop of Beijing recently blocking the bid to put Masood Azhar on the UN list of proscribed terrorists.
"India and China -- both huge countries -- multi-cultural, multi-racial -- if they come together in fighting this menace, I am sure it will have its own impact.
"And India always believes that every country should have a zero-tolerance policy towards terrorism and the fight is to be all out," he told state-run television channel CCTV in an interview ahead of his visit to China next week. He was replying to a question on terrorism.
In March this year, China had blocked India's bid at the UN to place Azhar, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief, the mastermind of the 2001 Parliament and 2016 Pathankot terror attacks, on the list of global terrorists.
The president said both the countries have a "comprehensive relationship" and India considers ties with China as "important".
"I would say that we have very comprehensive relationship with People’s Republic of China. And we consider it is a very important relationship for us.
"And that the state visit has its own significance as it provides an opportunity to the leaders to share their views, explore the possibilities of expanding cooperation between the countries’ concern and also they exchange their views, on regional, global and multilateral issues," he said in an interview, excerpts of which were broadcast on Wednesday.
In March, China had requested the UN Sanction Committee, which is considering a ban, to keep on hold the proposal for declaring Azhar as Globally Designated Terrorist.
India had told the committee that not listing Azhar would expose it and other countries in South Asia to threats from the terror group and its leader.
The UN had banned JeM in 2001 but India's efforts to ban Azhar after the Mumbai terror attack also did not fructify as China, one of the five permanent members of the UN group with veto powers, didn't allow the ban apparently at the behest of Pakistan again.
The US State Treasury department had designated him as Special Designated Global Terrorist in November 2010.
Meanwhile, China on Wednesday said it wants to enhance mutual trust with India and move forward their bilateral cooperative partnership as it announced President Pranab Mukherjee's maiden visit here from May 24.
"This will be the first visit for President Mukherjee to China. It is also one of the high level exchanges between China and India this year," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a media briefing here.
"China and India are the major emerging countries and play a major role on the international stage. They have made great contribution for peace and stability in the world," he said.
President Xi Jinping's visit to India in 2014 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China last year have marked a "new era" for Sino-Indian relations, Hong said.
"We are willing to further enhance mutual trust and mutual beneficial cooperation with India so as to move forward the cooperative partnership between China and India," he said.
Mukherjee will be visiting China from May 24-27 at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Xi, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
Mukherjee, the first Indian president to visit China after his predecessor Pratibha Patil's trip in 2010, will arrive in the highly industrialised Chinese city Guangzhou on May 24. The city has strong business links with India. Besides interacting with the Indian community, which has over 3,000 businessmen, Mukherjee will also address India-China Business Forum to highlight the investment opportunities in India.
Top Chinese officials of the province are expected to attend the event. A number of Indian and Chinese businessmen are also expected to take part in the event, sources said.
Later, Mukherjee will arrive in Beijing on May 25 and attend a reception hosted by The Chinese People's Friendship Association for Foreign Countries (CPAFFC).On May 26, he will address a meeting at the Peking University and later hold talks with Xi and also meet Premier Li Keqiang along with other Chinese leaders before leaving for home on May 27.
The President's tour, which is a reciprocal visit to Xi's trip to India in 2014, will be followed by Modi's visit to the Chinese city of Hangzhou to take part in the G20 leaders summit to be held on September 4 and 5 this year. Xi is expected to travel to India to take part in the Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) summit scheduled to be held in Goa from October 15-16. Modi had made a high-profile visit to China last year.
