BEIJING: India and Pakistan are friendly neighbours of China, foreign minister Wang Yi said as he hoped that the two countries can properly manage and control differences and improve their strained ties.
Briefing China's official media on the outcome of President Xi Jinping's visit to India last week for the second informal summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Wang spoke about the Modi-Xi meeting amidst Indo-Pak tensions.
Ahead of the summit at the picturesque town of Mamallapuram near Chennai on October 11-12, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Beijing along with his army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and met President Xi and discussed the Kashmir issue.
Prior to his trip to India, Xi "listened to the views and propositions of the Pakistani side in his meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Khan," Wang said in his briefing on Tuesday, without referring the Kashmir issue. This is the first time a top Chinese official spoke about the October 9 meeting between Xi and Khan, which sparked concerns in India.
"In Chennai, Xi said all sides should work together to promote regional peace and stability, and achieve common development and prosperity," Wang said without elaborating.
He carefully avoided any references to the Kashmir issue as well as India's move to revoke the special status to Jammu and Kashmir following which Pakistan launched an international campaign against New Delhi.
"The recent strained India-Pakistan relations and unrest in the region have drawn grave concerns from the international community," Wang said.
He said both India and Pakistan are friendly neighbours of China, and the Chinese side "hopes that the two countries can properly manage and control differences and improve their ties," state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Wang as saying.
After the Modi-Xi meeting, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said Kashmir issue was neither raised nor discussed. "Since Pakistan Prime Minister had recently visited China hence President Xi told Prime Minister about it and Prime Minister listened to the same," Gokhale said in his briefing on October 12.
In his meeting with Khan, Xi was quoted as saying China is paying "close attention" to the situation in Kashmir and hoped that the "relevant parties" can solve the issue through peaceful dialogue.
Significantly, Wang was quoted as saying that "China is willing to develop and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with all South Asian countries."
He said China's "respective relations with India, Pakistan and other South Asian countries could run in parallel and develop together, neither targeting any third party nor being influenced by a third party".
Wang said President Xi's visits to India and Nepal has injected new impetus into China's relations with the two countries, built new platform for good-neighbourliness in South Asia, and opened up new prospects for regional practical cooperation.
China and India should be good neighbours who live in harmony and work together as good partners, Wang quoted Xi as telling Modi.

BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping during his recent Chennai visit held in-depth talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the 'regional situation' and encouraged all parties concerned to solve the current issues through dialogue, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday.
At a press briefing on Xi's recent visit to India and Nepal, Wang said, "Both India and Pakistan are friendly neighbours of China, and the Chinese side hopes that the two countries can properly manage and control differences and improve their relations."
The Chinese minister said that prior to his South Asia trip, Xi listened to the views and propositions of the Pakistani side in his meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.
"In Chennai, President Xi Jinping had in-depth communication on the regional situation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and encouraged all parties concerned to solve the current issues through dialogue," he added without any mention of Kashmir. Xi emphasised that "the Chinese side sincerely expects sound China-India relations, China-Pakistan relations and India-Pakistan relations" and expects to see all sides working together to promote regional peace and stability and achieve common development and prosperity.
According to foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale, the Kashmir issue was not raised or discussed during the second informal summit between Modi and Xi at the seaside resort of Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu during October 11-12.
Xi Jinping also elaborated on the Chinese side's propositions on enhancing 'China-India Plus' cooperation and stressed that the cooperation can be gradually expanded to other countries in South Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa on the basis of the existing 'China-India-Afghanistan' cooperation.
The Chinese foreign minister noted that Xi has pointed out that India and China should play a leading role in regional connectivity construction, and create a smoother connectivity network, and work together to contribute to the early conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement.
The foreign minister reiterated that the "duet of the Chinese 'dragon' and the Indian 'elephant'" serves best the "fundamental interests of the two countries".

BEIJING: As Facebook readies to launch its answer to bitcoin, China is set to introduce its own digital currency - one that could allow the government and the central bank to see what people spend their money on, analysts said.
Far from the libertarian ideals of cryptocurrencies, whose anonymity allows users to buy and sell without leaving a digital trail, China's mooted e-cash system will be tightly regulated, experts say, and run by the People's Bank of China, the central bank. It "would give the PBoC greater insight into transactions throughout the country", analysts at Beijing-based research firm Trivium China said.
In September, central bank governor Yi Gang said China's new currency may be associated with existing electronic payment systems, such as WeChat and AliPay phone apps, which are widespread and allow yuan transactions via bank accounts. While he gave no timetable, Chinese media are putting their money on a November 11 launch to coincide with "Singles Day" - a massive, annual online sales event. "We will adhere to centralised management," he added.
In a country where social credit systems and facial recognition cameras are becoming widespread, a new Chinese cryptocurrency could allow the government to "more closely monitor the actions of its population," said Stanislas Pogorzelski, editor-in-chief of the specialist site Cryptonaute.fr.

BEIJING: China said on Tuesday that it was on the "same page" with the US on trade as it confirmed that the two countries are likely to sign a "phase one agreement" soon to end their trade war.
Beijing also confirmed that it has stepped up purchase of American agricultural produce in large quantities in a bid to address the trade deficit with the US, which last year climbed to $539 billion.
US President Donald Trump, who had launched the trade war last year demanding China to reduce massive trade deficit, said that after the 13 round of trade talks the two countries have reached a "very substantial phase one deal."
Trump is also demanding an intrusive verification mechanism to supervise Beijing's promise to protect intellectual property rights (IPR) technology transfer and more access to American goods to Chinese markets. Asked whether China is on the "same page" following Trump's assertion about phase one deal, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said, "what the US side said is true, and it is the same with our understanding on this agreement."
"This economic and trade agreement will be very important. It will bring benefits to China, the US and the world, and it will contribute to trade and peace," he said.
About the US' assertion that China began purchasing large amounts of American agricultural products, he said, "as I know, Chinese companies independently purchase US agricultural products following market principles and based on domestic demand".
He said that according to the preliminary statistics, this year, Chinese companies have purchased 20 million tonnes of soybeans, 700 thousand tonnes of pork, 700 thousand tonnes of sorghum, 230 thousand tonnes of wheat and 320 thousand tonnes of cotton from the US.
"We will continue to buy more American agricultural goods," he said.
The Trump administration had first imposed tariffs on Chinese imports last year in a bid to win concessions from China, which responded with tit-for-tat tariffs.