Ambassador Bambawale's Interview with China Global Times Network (CGTN)

A: Our Prime Minister is looking forward to participating in the Qingdao summit. India has been a very enthusiastic member of the SCO, we have participated in all meetings of the SCO the past year. We are looking forward to a much closer cooperation between India and other member countries of the SCO.

Q: How is India cooperating with China under the SCO framework?

A: The main areas of SCO’s work are in security, counter-terrorism, economic development and growth, and cultural harmony and cultural exchange. India and China have worked together very closely in the past year in all these areas, to enhance the Shanghai Spirit of the SCO.

Q: President Xi and Prime Minister Modi's latest informal meeting in Wuhan set a friendly tone for future bilateral ties. On what areas do you think the two countries should focus in terms of implementing the meeting's results? 

A: They reached consensus in two areas: The first is that India and China are partners in progress and development. The second is that there are many more commonalities between India and China – more areas to cooperate on with each other than to differ on.

Obviously between many countries, including India and China, there are some areas in which we do not see eye to eye, we have our own opinions. But the two leaders decided to work on the areas where we have common approaches, and we’ll see that at the Qingdao summit.

Q: Regional security has always been a primary concern of the SCO. What do you think India and China can or should do to improve their security cooperation, despite their differences concerning their shared border?

A: I think India and China must work together in the security area too. We might have our differences in terms of where our border lies, we don’t have a final resolution on the India-China border, but I think it’s very important for India and China to ensure peace and tranquility are maintained in the border areas.

If we are able to achieve this, we should not have any doubt about our wisdom and ability, especially that of our leaders to achieve this objective and this goal. If we are able to achieve this, we’ll have an impact on security not only within this region, the Indo-Pacific or the Asia-Pacific region, but will have an impact across the world.

So I see a very important role for both India and China in the area of peace for the world as a whole.