China and India Should Help Each Other Accomplish their Goals, Says Envoy

New Delhi: China and India should help each other to accomplish their respective goals, the Chinese envoy here said on Sunday, underlining President Xi Jinping's assertion that the only "correct choice" for both sides is the dragon and the elephant dance together.

At the second informal summit between the two leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi on Saturday agreed to set up a broad-based economic mechanism to bridge India's ballooning trade deficit with China and vowed to deepen defence cooperation while negotiating contentious issues prudently with sensitivity to each other's core concerns.

"Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Modi had an in-depth exchange of views on overall, long-term and strategic international and regional issues in a friendly atmosphere and agreed to strengthen the closer development partnership between the two countries," he said.

Other major outcomes of the nearly seven-hour one-on-one talks over two days between Modi and Xi in Mamallapuram were China's assurance to address India's concerns over proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), resolve by both sides to work on additional confidence building measures and agreement on consolidating strategic communication to enhance mutual trust between militaries of the two countries to maintain peace on border.