‘Not Bad Fate’: Outgoing Chinese Envoy Weidong Says China, India Have ‘Enough Room’ to Grow Together

The outgoing Chinese ambassador to India Sun Weidong in his farewell statement reflected on the harmonious coexistence and mutually beneficial cooperation between China and India.

He said that both nations cannot remain suspicious of each other and should not see the fact that both being neighbours is a case of bad fate.

Weidong replaced Luo Zhaohui in 2019 and was envoy to India for three years. His time as envoy saw relations between both nations deteriorate as Chinese forces clashed with Indian soldiers in Galwan Valley and in several other areas including the Finger Area, Galwan Valley, Hot springs, and Kongrung Nala in an act of transgression of border control in June 2020.

Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar also met the outgoing envoy for a farewell call and reiterated that peace and tranquility in the border regions is essential for stable ties.

“The normalization of India-China relations is in the interest of both countries, of Asia and the world at large,” Jaishankar said in a tweet.

Relations between both nations since 2020 have remained tense and discussions to restore normalcy continues but India has stressed, on several occasions, that for better relations there has to be peace on the border.

Weidong said full use of the channels of communication is necessary to resolve misunderstandings. “We should make full use of all the communication channels, and deepen mutual understanding in order to avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation,” he said.

“It should be an opportunity for us to have more interaction and cooperation, tap our potential and learn from and complement each other. If we view it as a kind of bad fate, it will make us suspect and undercut each other, compete and confront with each other, or even become rivals,” Weidong said.

He also said that Beijing and New Delhi need to break out of the ‘geopolitics trap’. “We need to find a new path that is different from the past. There is enough room in the world for China and India to develop together, and the two countries and peoples should have enough wisdom to find a way to live in peace and achieve win-win cooperation between the two big neighbouring and emerging countries,” Weidong said.

“China and India have been neighbours for thousands of years and will continue to be neighbours in the future. If the Western theory of geopolitics is applied to China-India relationship, then major neighbouring countries like us will inevitably view each other as threats and rivals,” he further added. He said there is enough room for both nations who have large populations to grow together and coexist.

He also said there should be respect for each other’s political processes and its participants and not interfere in each other’s internal issues. “The two countries need to respect each other’s political systems and development paths, and uphold the principle of non-interference in each other’s internal affairs,” Weidong said.

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