I don't understand China's assertiveness: PM

TALK TIME: Manmohan Singh addressed the Council on Foreign Relations on Monday.

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Washington: India's relation with Pakistan, China and the terror scourge is weighing heavily on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's mind as he get ready to meet US President Barack Obama as his first state guest in Washington on Tuesday.

Admitting that Sino-India relationship hit a new low especially after Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama's trip to Arunachal Pradesh recently, Singh said he failed to understand the reason behind the assertiveness on the Chinese part.

"We want the world to prepare for the peaceful rise of China as a major power. So, engagement is the right strategy for India as well as for United States. We ourselves have tried very hard to engage China in the last five years and today China is one of our major trading partners. We also recognise that we have a long standing border problem with China. We are trying to resolve it through dialogue. In the meanwhile both our countries have agreed that pending the resolution of the border problem, peace and tranquility should be maintained in the border line. Having said tat I should say that I have received these assurances from Chinese leadership from the highest level. There is but a certain amount of assertiveness on the Chinese part. I don't fully understand the reasons for it," Singh said at the Council on Foreign Relations.

India had also rejected Obama's offer to China to assume the role of supercop in the region especially in Indo-Pak matters.

Singh also pointed out that China also has much to learn about human rights and rule of law.

"There is no doubt that Chinese growth performance is superior to Indian performance. But I have always believed that there are other values which are important than the growth of the gross domestic product. I think the respect for fundamental human rights, the respect for the rule of law, respect for multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious rights, I think those have values. So, even the Indian perforce with regard to the GDP might not be as good as the Chinese, certainly I would not like to choose the Chinese path," he added.

Singh on Monday outlined the progress made with respect to the peace process with Pakistan.

He also stressed for the need of an environment of peace, friendship and prosperity in South Asia. He also discussed the need for Pakistan to break away from the past and abjure terrorism.

"India has invested heavily in normalising relations with Pakistan. We are ready to pick up the threads of the dialogue including Jammu and Kashmir," said Singh.

Days before the first anniversary of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks the Indian Prime Minister also said that the trauma still continued to haunt India.

"We are three days away from the first anniversary of Mumbai attacks. The trauma of 26/11 continues to haunt us," he said.

He also thanked the US for its fight against terror.

"We deeply appreciate US cooperation in the area of counter terrorism. We can do much more together and combat sophisticated terror networks," he said.