Xi Jinping stresses on 'Dragon-Elephant tango' ahead of Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs
Xi said the neighbours should find ways to coexist peacefully and that he was ready to deepen communication and coordination in major international affairs
China and India should work more closely together, Chinese President Xi Jinping told his Indian counterpart Droupadi Murmu, saying their relationship should take the form of a “Dragon-Elephant tango” - a dance between their emblematic animals.
The Chinese and Indian presidents exchanged congratulatory messages on Tuesday (April 1), which marked the 75th anniversary of the start of their diplomatic ties, as tensions ease after a 2020 clash between their troops in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley along the Line of Actual Control.
The message comes at a time when global trade tensions are high, particularly with the US imposing tariffs on Chinese goods and threatening India with reciprocal tariffs.
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‘Need to find ways to coexist peacefully’
Xi said the neighbours should find ways to coexist peacefully and that he was ready to deepen communication and coordination in major international affairs, and jointly safeguard peace in border areas, as per a Reuters report.
“Both countries are ancient civilisations, major developing countries and important members of the Global South and both are in a crucial stage of modernisation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a media briefing in Beijing.
The historical course of our bilateral relations shows that being partners that contributed to each other’s success and the cooperative dance of ‘the dragon and the elephant’ is the right choice for both sides, Guo said.
‘Ready to work with India’
Under the strategic guidance of the leaders of our two countries, China stands ready to work with India to view and handle bilateral relations with a strategic and long-term perspective and take this occasion as an opportunity to enhance strategic mutual trust and step up exchanges and cooperation in various fields, he said.
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He was referring to how Modi and Xi provided strategic guidance for the development of bilateral relations at their meeting at Kazan in Russia on the sidelines of the BRICS summit last year.
After last year’s meeting between Modi and Xi, both countries held a series of high level meetings, including that of the Special Representatives (SRs) of the boundary mechanism followed by the visit of Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri to Beijing for talks to normalise relations after the four-year freeze in relations due to the Ladakh standoff.