26 May 2016

News Story: Dragon-Elephant rivalry merely Western media's one-sided hype

by Xinhua Writer Tian Dongdong

BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Hailing China as one of India's most important partners, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee landed in Beijing on Wednesday for his first state visit to China, beginning a new dance between the Elephant and the Dragon.

The visit, which follows Chinese President Xi Jinping's India trip two years ago, is set to open a new chapter in the development of bilateral relations and yield meaningful results for regional peace and stability.

But some Western media have attempted to drive a wedge into China-India relations by hyping up competition between the two Asian giants.

One of the latest targets of their smear campaign is a New Delhi-Tehran deal on developing Iran's southern port of Chabahar. The seaport is about 100 km from Pakistan's Gwadar seaport, which is co-developed by China. Those media claim the Elephant-Dragon rivalry is unavoidable.

Such hype is both untrue and harmful.

China and India do have differences, but those differences are outnumbered and dwarfed by their consensuses and aspiration for win-win cooperation.

Read the full story at Xinhua