India important part of China's neighborhood diplomacy: Chinese vice president

Visiting Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao said here Friday that India is an important part of China's neighborhood diplomacy.

While meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Li said the development of India is also an important opportunity for China, and China has prioritized the development of relations with India.

Li congratulated Modi on the achievements India has scored in national construction and economic development under his leadership.

He said after Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Indian prime minister exchanged official visit to each other's country, the two sides have agreed to deepen the contents of the strategic cooperative partnership between the two sides in a bid to push the bilateral relations to a new high.

Li said China is willing to work with India to strengthen political dialogue, connect each other's development strategies, enhance people-to-people exchanges, work for more consultations in multilateral frameworks and properly manage and control disputes.

This will help the two countries tighten their partnership in development, work as two engines for global economic growth, forge as global partners in strategic collaboration to realize their peaceful, cooperative and inclusive development, he said.

For his part, Modi said if India and China can inherit traditional friendship and strengthen cooperation, they would not only enhance the happiness of the people of their respective countries, but also contribute to the revival of Asian and developing countries and help bring about growth of the world economy.

Noting that India-China relations have now entered a golden era, Modi said his country is willing to learn from and carry out cooperation with China in the fields of railway, smart city and habitation construction, attract more investment from Chinese enterprises and promote tourism and cultural exchanges to bring the bilateral ties to a new height. Endit