Some Indian people have "serious strategic miscalculation" on China: ambassador

NEW DELHI, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- Some Indian people view China as India's "major threat" and "strategic rival," which is "a serious strategic miscalculation," Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong said Thursday, calling on both sides to strengthen mutual trust and dialogue to avoid falling into the trap of outdated Western thinking.

Sun made the remarks when addressing the opening ceremony of the 4th High-level Track II Dialogue on China-India Relations via video link, which was co-hosted by the School of International Studies of Sichuan University, the China Center for South Asian Studies and the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in India.

"The primary task for both sides is to achieve development and rejuvenation, and focus on running our own affairs well," he said, according to a release published on the Chinese embassy's website.

However, at present, some countries with their ideological bias and Cold War mentality are vigorously seeking closed and exclusive "small cliques," with the aim of containing a third party, stoking bloc confrontation and geopolitical games, Sun said. "In fact, containing others will not benefit a country with better development, nor will ganging up with others make one more secure."

He called on the Indian side to view bilateral relations between the two countries from a comprehensive rather than one-sided perspective, since China-India relations are multi-faceted and multi-dimensional.

"Despite disputes and differences, there are more consensus and cooperation. Every field of bilateral relations should promote rather than undercut each other," he added.