The Hindu Business Line : World large enough for both India and China: Tharoor

NEW YORK: Describing the recent verbal spat between China and India as “irritants,” Minister of State for External Affairs Mr Shashi Tharoor has said the two countries shared a healthy relationship and minor issues should not be “blown out of proportion” .

“I think it’s important that everyone scales down a little bit the temperature. It's not as if there is any substantive reason for hostilities between our countries,” Mr Tharoor said in New York.

India and China exchanged verbal volleys earlier this month over Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing considers a disputed region. However Mr Tharoor played down the controversy, saying the fresh border skirmishes were “irritants” and relations between the Asian neighbours should be viewed in a broader context.

“It is a relationship which has featured so much development and trade that China is now our number one trading partner in manufactured goods,” Mr Tharoor said. He pointed out that as many as 7000 Indians were studying in China and Indian companies like Infosys were hiring Chinese workers to work for them in India.

“The world is large enough for both India and China to fulfil the needs of their people and to be of service to humanity,” he said. “If you look at the nuts and bolts of our daily interaction on economics we have Indian companies that have opened branche s in Shanghai,” he said. - PTI

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