Beijing: Describing the Kashmir issue as a left over from history, China on Tuesday hoped it could be resolved by India and Pakistan through "dialogue and consultations."
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu stated this during a media briefing while responding to questions on Premier Wen Jiabao's recent visit to India and Pakistan.
Wen's visit to India and Pakistan was "rich in content and fruitful in results" and would contribute to good neighbourliness, friendliness, mutual beneficial cooperation and peace and stability in neighbouring areas, Jiang said, summing up the Premier's trip to the two countries.
She said India and Pakistan are both major countries in South Asia and key neighbours to China.
The development of China-India and China-Pakistan ties is of "great importance to peace and prosperity to South Asia, rest of Asia and world as a whole," she said.
Asked whether the Kashmir issue figured in Wen's talks in both the countries, she said "as we have repeatedly said here, it is an issue left over from history between India and Pakistan.
"As a neighbouring country and a friend to both India and Pakistan, China hope that the two countries could properly settle this issue through dialogue and consultations."
Earlier in his briefing to the Chinese official media on Wen's visit, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, who accompanied the Premier to the two countries, said the visit has "enhanced the two-way strategic partnerships with India and Pakistan, which presented China as a responsible country committed to good neighbourliness, unity and cooperation with its neighbours."
During his meetings with Indian leaders and in his speech there, Wen spoke highly of the sound development of the China-India relations and cooperation in various fields in recent years, Yang said.
The Premier also defined the orientation of the development of bilateral relations, he said.
Wen reaffirmed that there is enough space in the world for China and India to develop jointly and cooperate with each other, he said.
The Indian leaders "much appreciated" Wen's comments and stance on the China-India ties, saying that India attached great importance to the development of bilateral relations, cherished the friendship between the two countries and is willing to work together with China to further deepen and enrich the India-China "strategic and cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity," Yang said.
The two sides issued a joint communique, announcing the establishment of a mechanism for regular exchange of visits between heads of governments, opening a telephone hotline between the two Prime Ministers and a mechanism for annual exchange of visits between the Foreign Ministers, he said.
Both sides also agreed to seek fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solutions to the border issues through negotiations, he said, adding that they signed a number of cooperative agreements in the fields of economy, culture, environmental protection and media.
Promoting "practical cooperation" between China and India was the main content of Wen's visit to India, he said.
In Pakistan, Wen stressed on consolidating and deepening the "all-weather strategic partnership of cooperation between China and Pakistan" to serve the common interests of the two countries and peoples and contribute to peace, stability and development in the region and world, Yang said.
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