Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar had held talks with China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi and expressed strong commitment to develop positive relations despite the differences over Beijing’s reluctance to support India’s NSG bid as well as a UN ban on JeM chief Masood Azhar.

“We truly hope that in the year ahead our two countries can enhance our exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation so that we can jointly contribute more to peace and stability and development of our region and the world at large,” Yang said, recalling President Pranab Mukherjee’s visit last year.

Jaishankar said, “it’s very good to be back (to Beijing). I come with nostalgia and very good feelings and also a very strong sense of commitment to maintain the relationship”.

Jaishankar added, “this is not just a meeting between me and my counterpart, it is preceded by consultations” on a host of issues.

“China has a very strong, principled position on counter-terrorism. We hope the position China already has will be further implemented,” Jaishankar said, adding that discussions with China over the matter are still going on.

“Whether last year’s application by India or this year’s by relevant country our position is consistent. Our criteria is only one, we need solid evidence. If there is solid evidence the application can be approved. If there is no solid evidence there is hardly consensus,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.

He reiterated China’s stand, “We stick to two-step approach namely, first NSG members need to arrive at a set of principles for the entry of NSG by non-NPT state parties and then move forward discussions of specific cases.”

“India wants to export more to China. We want to have more market access in China,” Shaktikanta Das, Secretary Economic Affairs said, urging China to further open up sectors like IT software and agricultural products.

By Premji