Xu Feihong, China’s newly appointed Ambassador to India, arrived in New Delhi on May 10, following an 18-month period when China had no ambassador to India. This promising development between these two giant economies and leaders of the Global Majority, followed occasional tensions stemming from border disputes, including in June 2020 at the Ladakh (Indian)/ Pangong Tso (Chinese) border clashes, according to South China Morning Post.
Xu, who was China’s Assistant Foreign Minister, came prepared to go to a higher level that will produce a change in the two nations’ relations. In a May 10 interview Xu told CGTN: “President Xi and Prime Minister Modi have agreed on the important assessment that China and India are cooperation partners and not competitors. And reached an important common understanding that our two countries are each other’s development opportunities and not threats. This should serve as the fundamental guidelines for the growth of bilateral relations.”
As an alternate pathway, Xu stressed, “As President Xi Jinping said, if China and India speak with one voice, the whole world will listen. If both countries join hands, the whole world will pay attention.” The two countries together have roughly 2.8 billion people between them.
