Let us dance together, says Chinese envoy

New Delhi: Chinese ambassador Luo Zhaohui on Friday said that India and China should “turn a new chapter” in ties and “dance together”, an obvious reference to the tumultuous Doklam episode when both sides had a military face-off in Bhutanese territory. The ambassador made the suggestion at celebrations in the Capital, ahead of the Chinese National Day on Oct. 1.

The conciliatory remark came on a day when home minister Rajnath Singh visited  the China border, the first by a minister after the recent resolution of the stand-off in Doklam, and said there has been a “perceptional difference” of the border between the two neighbours and expressed confidence that the issue will be “resolved” with time.

“The border issue will be resolved once we have structural dialogue (with China). What we need is a positive approach (to the issue),” the home minister said while visiting a forward ITBP post in Uttarakhand located at an altitude of 14,311 feet.

Earlier, the Chinese envoy said that the two sides should “dance together”, a clear pitch for renewed Sino-Indian ties after the Doklam episode.

China covets Doklam and calls it Dong Lang while both India and Bhutan regard Doklam as Bhutanese territory. Both Indian and Chinese forces had recently agreed to pull back from Doklam after a more than two month long face-off that was triggered by Chinese attempts to build a road in the disputed territory.

Significantly, despite India preferring Japanese technology for its bullet train project from Mumbai to Ahmedabad, the Chinese envoy reminded the audience about major Chinese achievements such as the high-speed train that runs between Beijing and Shanghai. 

China had offered India its bullet train technology but tensions between the two Asian giants seem to have led New Delhi to embrace the Japanese technology instead.