India, China must be sensitive to each other's interests: Indian envoy
Beijing, May 9: Being sensitive to each other's interests and aspirations is the key to progressive India-China ties, Indian envoy Gautam Bambawale said here on Wednesday.
Speaking at the 8th India-China Dialogue, a forum which did not take place in 2017 due to the standoff between their militaries, Bambawale said both countries need to be frank and open with each other to resolve their differences.
The envoy recalled the informal summit between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan late last month where both leaders freely and openly discussed the international as well as bilateral issues.
"An important principle in India-China relations is the necessity of being sensitive to the other country's aspirations and interests. In the absence of such sensitivity, we may talk to each other but little progress will be made if we do not empathize with the other side's point of view," Bambawale said.
Sino-India ties hit rock bottom last year when their armies faced off for over two months at Doklam in the Sikkim section.
Both sides have tried to mend their ties after the resolution of the crisis.
"We can only resolve these differences, over time, if we speak to each other about them in an open manner. I do hope that in the course of your conversations today, you will touch upon both the areas of convergence as well as those of divergence between our countries," the envoy said.
Experts and scholars from the think tanks from both countries were present at the dialogue.
"I am very happy to see that both delegations have retired defence personnel in their composition. I would like to see a resumption of military exchanges between India and China as well as strategic communication between our top military commanders. This will be good for maintaining peace and tranquility on the India-China border areas."
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Confident we are going to win Kerala: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
