New Delhi
17 December 2010
Chinese premier Wen Jiabao iterated Friday that the Indian media was causing
"damage" to the bilateral ties, in what was seen as a reaction to the not-so-flattering
headlines of the morning's newspapers on the outcome of his talks with Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh.
Mr Wen told a group of editors and scholars before concluding his three-day visit to
India that he understood that the press in India had freedom but it should play a role in
promoting friendship.
He went on to cite the Indian media's coverage of the situation on the Sino-Indian border
to say that "not a single shot had been fired" nor had there been any "exchanges in
border areas" between the troops, as had been reported.
The boundary question has "repeatedly been sensationalised" by the media after which
leaders of the two countries have had to "repair the damage and harm", he noted.
"A good neighbour is a blessing. We must be good neighbours," Wen emphasised,
urging the Indian media to play a more active role in enhancing friendship.
Underlining the importance of media's role, Mr Wen said that in his eight years as
premier he had given only one interview to a departing foreign journalist, who happened
to be from Press Trust of India (PTI).
Answering questions, the Chinese premier said it was undeniable that in the long history
between the two countries there was "a page of twists and turns", an apparent reference
to the 1962 Sino-Indian war. But that was a "short page" and it was time the two
countries "turned over that page", he said.
Both India and China had gone through "a lot of history" and surmounted "a lot of
difficulties". Both had great ethnic, cultural and religious diversities and therefore both
have to be "inclusive societies". Pointing out that India and China had jointly initiated the
five principles of peaceful co-existence, Mr Wen said that at the core of these principles
was respect for each other.
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