As Premier Li Keqiang left here for India, China on Sunday said that if the two Asian giants “tango” together, the Brics grouping would get a boost and efforts to safeguard the rights of developing countries strengthened.
In its second commentary in as many days, state-run news agency Xinhua said Mr Li headed for India tour, his first after he took over as Premier and weeks after the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Durban on the sidelines of the Brics summit held in March.
“Such a short time interval in top-level contacts between the two Asian giants gives the impression the Chinese dragon and the Indian elephant are about to tango toward better ties and closer cooperation. And such a prospect would also bring extra glamour to multilateral frameworks such as BRICS, in which China and India are major players,” it said.
“Visionary leaders in both countries have realised the world has sufficient room for the development of China and India, and the two neighbours share vast common interests, despite their lingering border issues and the much-hyped China-India rivalry for regional primacy,” it said in the commentary titled ‘Closer ties between China, India to add extra glamour to Brics’.
The commentary came just after Li left for New Delhi.