India should keep an eye on China, but hope for good ties: PM

India has to take adequate precautions but not give up hope of peaceful resolution of issues with China, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Monday, reacting to "pinpricks" by Beijing on Jammu and Kashmir and other issues.
Relations between the two Asian giants continued to be a mix of competition and cooperation and the effort should be to create a milieu in which there can be peaceful competition, Dr Singh emphasised during an interaction with a group of editors.

He pointed out that he had worked with the Chinese President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, whom he had been meeting almost every year. He was answering questions on Beijing's refusal to issue a visa to an Indian General doing duty in Jammu and Kashmir and its insistence on issuing stapled visas people of the state.

About Pakistan, the Prime Minister maintained that it was his sincere belief that India had to engage it regardless of the complexity of the set-up in that country, but he was also sensitive to the Indian public opinion after the Mumbai terror attack. Asked about the failure of the talks between External Affairs Minister SM Krishna and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi in July, Dr Singh said that "There are always mishaps" in Indo-Pak ties. Engagement and dialogue were the only way forward in Indo-Pak ties, he said, adding that he hoped that Qureshi would accept Krishna's invitation to visit India.

On Afghanistan, Singh said that India would continue to support the aspirations of the people there for democracy. New Delhi had vital cultural and civilisational ties with the war-torn country and was deeply interested in its development, he said.
On the upcoming visit of US President Barack Obama, Dr Singh said that India's hope was that the two countries, which are strategic partners, would chart out new pathways in many areas during the visit. He was happy that the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill had been passed with near unanimity by Parliament.

-Asian Tribune-