China welcomes Modi, Imran Khan exchange of greetings

China on Friday welcomed the exchange of greetings between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan following the ruling BJP's sweeping victory in India's general elections, expressing hope that the two nations would continue to show goodwill and resolve their differences through dialogue.

Khan on Thursday congratulated Modi on his electoral triumph and expressed his desire to work with him for peace and prosperity in the region.

Modi responded by saying "I warmly express my gratitude for your good wishes. I have always given primacy to peace and development in our region.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told the media that China has noted the interaction between the two leaders. "We welcome that," he said.

"Both the countries are important countries in South Asia. Peace and harmony between both sides will serve the fundamental interests of both countries and common aspiration of the international community," he said.

"The two sides can continue to show goodwill, meet each other half and resolve differences through dialogue, improve their relations and jointly uphold regional peace and stability," he said.

Lu said the elections in India were concluded smoothly and referred to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s congratulatory message to Modi.

"China and India are important neighbours to each other. We are major developing countries and emerging markets. Last year, the Wuhan summit between President Xi and Prime Minister Modi directed the future for our bilateral relations and opening up a new prospect," he said.

"Now one year later, progress has been made in our bilateral relations and cooperation. China attaches high importance to our bilateral relations and likes to work with India to deepen our political mutual trust and mutual beneficial cooperation for more progress and closer partnership," he said.

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The April 27-28 Wuhan summit in 2018 between Modi and Chinese President Xi was largely credited to have turned around the bilateral relations soured by the 73-day-long Doklam standoff, triggered by Chinese troops attempts to build a road close to the Indian border in an area also claimed by Bhutan in 2017.

After the Wuhan summit, both the countries stepped up efforts to improve relations on different spheres including the military-to-military ties.