Impossible to believe India,China cannot manage their ties

Menon admitted there were strong elements in the relationship between India and China.

Pushing for greater engagement with China,National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon on Tuesday said the two countries can manage their differences and should work for it.

Menon admitted there were strong elements in the relationship between India and China which had the potential to create instability but said it was impossible to believe that the two countries were unable to manage their ties.

“I personally do not think that the two countries with 3000-year-old tradition of statecraft cannot manage these things. It is kind of impossible to believe. But,we have to work over it,” he said here.

Menon said it is clear that India has an “overriding and strategic” interest in making the relationship with China grow in a healthy manner.

“That is our primary responsibility. We want to transform India first. So anything that comes in way of that we will try and avoid,” he said.

Noting that both the sides were sensitive to issues like Tibet and Kashmir,Menon said the two countries recognised the sensitivities and it was only a question of how skilled they are in managing it.

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