India, China should start a new chapter: Chinese envoy

NEW DELHI: Chinese envoy to India Luo Zhaohui has said it was time for India and China to turn the old page and start a new chapter, stressing that the countries have made a lot of progress at bilateral level.

He said on Friday that Chinese President Xi Jinping met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the BRICS Summit in Xiamen earlier this month, and the two leaders sent a clear message of "reconciliation" and "cooperation".

"We should turn the old page and start a new chapter with the same pace and direction. We should dance together. We should make one plus one eleven. China is the largest trading partner of India. We have made a lot of progress at the bilateral level, as well as in international and regional affairs," Luo said.

The Chinese envoy was speaking on the 68th anniversary of founding of the People's Republic of China.

His comments come in the backdrop of the disengagement of Chinese and Indian troops in Dokalam, where the army of the two nations were locked in a stand-off for over two months.

India and China, who went to war in 1962, share an uneasy relationship and territorial dispute is a major bone of contention between the two countries.

The Chinese diplomat also recalled one of his teachers, Prof Xu Fancheng, who lived in Aurobindo Ashram in Puducherry from 1945 to 1978. Xu is known for his work of translating Upanishad, Bhagawad Gita and Shakuntala from Sanskrit to Chinese.

"In our bilateral engagement, there have been thousands of prominent persons like Prof Xu Fancheng, (Buddhist monk) Bodhidharma, Faxian (a Chinese Buddhist monk who travelled to India in the 3rd century) and Rabindranath Tagore.

"We should never forget their contribution and legacies. The history could do a lot of things. Standing on their shoulders, we should do more today," Luo said.

The Chinese envoy added that the speed of Chinese high-speed trains from Beijing to Shanghai was increased from 300 kmph to 350 kmph two weeks ago.

"We have started the feasibility study of hyperloop trains at the speed of 1,000 to 4,000kmph," he said.

He added that the high-speed trains were one of the four latest inventions of China.