Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to India helped build strategic mutual trust and deepen bilateral cooperation between the two neighbors, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here Wednesday.
Noting that there are rarely two countries in the world with so many similarities like China and India, Wang said Beijing and New Delhi are natural strategic partners.
"The strategic significance was often overlooked in the past. Li's starting point provides us with a more objective perspective of viewing China-India relations," Wang said.
During Li's trip, which started on Sunday, he met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, President Pranab Mukherjee and Hamid Ansari, Chairman of Rajya Sabha (the Upper House) of India's Parliament and Vice President.
Li said the most important outcome of his talks with Indian leaders is that they reached strategic consensus and deepened strategic trust.
"The peace of the world and the stability of the region cannot be guaranteed without strategic mutual trust between China and India," he said at a welcoming ceremony on Monday.
The significance of bilateral cooperation extends well beyond themselves. It is a blessing not only to the Chinese and Indian peoples, but also to Asia and the world, Li added.
Wang said another focus of Li's visit is to seek and expand strategic consensus between China and India, and to make that consensus always be the mainstream of bilateral ties.
During Li's visit, China and India issued a joint statement Monday highlighting their commitment to expanding common ground in bilateral cooperation and coordination in various fields.
On the border issue, which is left over by history, the two sides believe they have over time established the principles of settling those questions. And in the meantime, the two sides have worked together to maintain tranquility and peace in the border areas.
Whether the two countries could build and deepen mutual strategic trust is crucial to charting the future course of bilateral relations, Wang said.
Both sides, the foreign minister said, stressed in the statement that they are partners, rather than opponents, and regard each other's development as its own opportunities, not challenges. Both China and India believe their economies are highly complementary and the potential for cooperation is huge.
"There is enough space in the world for the development of China and India, and the world needs the common development of both countries," said the statement.
The two countries agreed to hold a regular exchange of high-level visits, promote trade, cooperate in industrial parks and the financial sector, enhance interaction in the military field, and strengthen cultural exchange.
Amicable relations between China and India will be a positive thing for Asia, and common development of China and India will provide new engines for the world economy, Li told reporters after meeting with Singh.
Addressing the Indian Council of World Affairs on Tuesday, Li urged both countries to look forward and seize the new opportunities in their strategic cooperation.
"China-India relations are one of the world's most important bilateral relations in the 21st century," Li said. "Their cooperation has vast room of further development."
The idea proposed by China and India to build an economic corridor among China, India, Myanmar and Bangladesh has drawn global attention, Wang said, adding that the establishment of the economic corridor, which combines China's westward strategy and India's eastward strategy, will link East Asia with South Asia, two crucial global economic growth points, and provide fresh impetus to Asian economic integration and global economic growth.
Li's visit to India, Wang said, has fully demonstrated the new Chinese leadership's determination, confidence and sincerity in strengthening China-India strategic cooperative partnership.
Li arrived in New Delhi on Sunday and left Mumbai Wednesday morning for Islamabad, capital of Pakistan. He will also visit Switzerland and Germany in his first overseas trip after assuming premiership in March.
