Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has recently had a written interview conducted and published jointly by the Press Trust of India and the Indian national newspaper "The Hindu". He took questions on China-India relations and China’s foreign policy.

On China-India relations, Wen said that the positive progress of China-India relations is satisfactory, noting that the stable development of the relations serves the fundamental interests of the two peoples and is conducive to peace and development in the region and in the world at large. With their vast markets, the Chinese and Indian economies enjoy different advantages and are complementary. Exchanges between the two governments and private enterprises of the two countries are conducive to mutual understanding and mutually beneficial cooperation. On the border issue, Wen said that the Chinese side stands for following the principles of equal consultations, mutual understanding and accommodation and reciprocal adjustments, and seeking a fair and reasonable solution to the issue. Before reaching a settlement, the two sides should make efforts to maintain peace and tranquility in the border area.

When asked to comment on China's foreign policy towards its neighbors, Wen said that the advancement of the modernization drive, the fulfillment of the reunification of the motherland, and the preservation of world peace and promotion of common development are the three main tasks of China in the new century. China, therefore, needs a long-term, stable, peaceful international environment, especially a good neighborhood environment, and is willing to make efforts in this regard. This has become China's fundamental national policy, which will never change. The Chinese, having suffered a great deal from invasion and humiliation, long for peace and stability. China, still a developing country, will not seek hegemony even when it becomes a developed country. China's development will constitute no threat to other countries, but is helpful to a common development of the region.