India and China should avoid falling into the trap of ”outdated Western thinking” and view bilateral relations from a comprehensive rather than one-sided perspective, Chinese Ambassador Sun Weidong said on Friday.

”Analysed from the prism of the so-called realism in international relations’ theory of the West, China and India, as two neighbouring major countries, would inevitably view each other as a threat and adversary, whose main interactive patterns would be competition and confrontation, and the result that one gains while the other loses would be unavoidable,” he said at the opening ceremony of the 4th high-level Track II Dialogue on China-India Relations.

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In an obvious reference to the Sino-India military stand-off at Eastern Ladakh, he noted that since last year, the China-India relationship has witnessed difficulties unseen for many years. The relations remained at a low level.

”The current status of bilateral relations is obviously not in the fundamental interest of either side. Many far-sighted people from both countries have advocated that China and India should improve their relations, and bring the China-India relations back on track, the Chinese envoy added.

Sun was of the view that the Western ”mindset of power politics and the law of the jungle runs counter to the trend of the 21st century which is peace, development and win-win cooperation.”

Referring to the withdrawal by American troops from Afghanistan, he said even the most powerful country in the world was doomed to fail for making ”wanton military intervention” in other countries and imposing its own values and social systems on others.

The ambassador said India and China should view the bilateral relations from a comprehensive rather than one-sided perspective. ”China-India relations are multi-faceted and multi-dimensional. Despite disputes and differences, there is more consensus and cooperation. Every field of bilateral relations should promote rather than undercut each other. We should avoid taking a part for the whole, or losing sight of the forest for the trees,” he added.