Chinese top legislator Li Peng said here on Saturday that India and China have more similarities than differences and the mainstream of the Sino-Indian bilateral relations is good.

"On my current trip I was deeply impressed by the strong desire of both peoples and governments of the two countries to develop friendly and cooperative relations," Li Peng, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, said Saturday morning in interviews with India's state television station Doordarshan TV and major newspaper the Hindu.

Li, who is on a week-long official goodwill visit here, said that Sino-Indian relations started to improve comprehensively in 1988 when late Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited China. Since then, the two countries have had continuous high-level exchange of visits, highlighted by Chinese President Jiang Zemin's visit to India in 1996 and last year's visit to China by Indian President K. R. Narayanan, Li noted.

Asked how the two countries can cooperate to face the challenges of multipolarization and globalization in the 21st century, Li said that both China and India hold the view that the world should not have only one pole and each country shares responsibility for the world development and peace.

"China and India can enhance cooperation internationally to promote the forming of a multi-polar world and strive for the establishment of a just and fair new international political and economic order," he asserted.

Both China and India represent the stand of th e developing world and have same or similar views on a number of international issues, Li stated.

"We hope our two countries can further expand common grounds and jointly play our roles in the international arena," he said, citing the human rights issue as an example.

As a developing country, China believes that apart from political rights, the rights to subsistence and development of the people should be given more attention, Li elaborated, adding that this view has won support from India and many other developing countries.

Asked about the Sino-Indian border issue, Li said that back in 1988, the two sides reached consensus on the principle of "mutual understanding, mutual accommodation and mutual readjustment" for the resolution of the border issue, and that certain progress has been made on this issue thanks to the joint efforts of both countries.

"During my current visit and meetings with the Indian leaders, I was left with a deep impression that all circles in India have the desire to resolve this issue," said Li.

"I can feel that it is also the desire and policy of the current Indian government to further promote the resolution of the Sino-Indian border issue."

Calling the border issue "a problem left over from history," Li said that as long as both sides have the political wishes to resolve this problem and are willing to adopt the way of consultation on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence, this problem will surely be well resolved step by step.

"Moreover, leaders of the two countries agreed a long time ago that although the two sides had differences on the border issue, it should not stand in the way of our cooperation in the international affairs and development of bilateral relations," Li stressed.

In response to a question on China's view on India-Pakistan relations and its attitude toward the Kashmir issue, Li said that China, which adopts an independent and peaceful diplomatic policy, hopes all its neighboring countries, including India and Pakistan, to maintain a peaceful and friendly relationship.

"Both India and Pakistan are major nations on the South Asian subcontinent, and the status of their relationship has a direct bearing on peace and stability in this region," said Li. "China hopes both sides can appropriately resolve existing problems through negotiations and consultations based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence."

China noticed that both India and Pakistan had adopted some new steps concerning the Kashmir issue, and "we welcome and support all efforts that will help improve India-Pakistan relations and ease regional tension," Li added.

Asked about China's stand on the issue of international terrorism, Li replied that the Chinese government has always opposed and condemned international terrorism in any form, and is against any act of terror and violence conducted by any nation, organization, group or individual. "China is willing to carry out international cooperation with all countries in the world, including India, to combat terrorism so as to safeguard national interests and regional security and stability," Li said.

In response to a question on the United States' attempt to establish missile defense systems, Li said that this move had met the opposition from China, Russia and even people in the West and the U.S. itself.

"The establishment of missile defense systems is a new form of arms race and reflects a cold war mind-set. Therefore, it is detrimental to world peace," Li said. "We hope the 21st century can be a century of peace and development, instead of a century of war." He also said that China welcomes the fact that India has taken the same stand on this issue.

Li Peng, who last visited India in 1991 as Chinese premier, told Indian journalists that he saw great changes in the country over the past decade and China appreciated the fact that India had become more open economically and maintained a fairly high growth rate.

Li, who stayed only in the Indian capital during his last visit, said that he wished to have a better understanding of India through his tour of other cities, including Mumbai, Bangalore and the ancient capital Agra, during the current visit.

He also asked the Indian media to convey sincere greetings and best wishes to the Indian people on behalf of the Chinese people and himself.

(Xinhua 01/13/2001)