Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said both countries are ancient civilisations, major developing countries and important members of the Global South and both are in a crucial stage of modernisation.
China and India should work more closely together, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Indian President Droupadi Murmu, saying their relationship should take the form of a “Dragon-Elephant tango” – a dance between their
emblematic animals.
The Chinese and Indian presidents exchanged congratulatory messages on Tuesday, the 75th anniversary of the start of their diplomatic ties, as tensions ease after a 2020 clash between their troops along their shared border in the Himalayas.
Xi said the neighbours should find ways to coexist peacefully and that he was ready to deepen communication and coordination in major international affairs, and jointly safeguard peace in border areas.
Jinping told Murmu that the relationship between the two nations should take the form of a “Dragon-Elephant tango” – a dance between their emblematic animals.
Also, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Prime Minister Narendra Modi exchanged congratulatory messages.
Xi said the neighbours should find ways to coexist peacefully and that he was ready to deepen communication and coordination in major international affairs, and jointly safeguard peace in border areas.
Notably, this is not the first time Beijing has highlighted the ‘Dragon-Elephant Tango’. In March, Beijing had renewed its call for a dragon-elephant tango, saying a China-India partnership was the “only right choice” for both countries.
On Tuesday, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also exchanged congratulatory messages respectively.
While ‘Dragon-Elephant Tango’ has been the Chinese refrain for several years — particularly after the June 2020 Galwan Valley clash that killed 20 Indian soldiers — it has been imbued with new urgency amid the geopolitical rumblings caused by Donald Trump’s foreign policy.
“China and India are each other’s largest neighbours. China always believes that the two should be partners that contribute to each other’s success,” Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi had said in March 2025.
“A cooperative pas de deux (dance duet) of the dragon and the elephant is the only right choice for both sides,” Wang Yi had added.
The Chinese and Indian presidents’ conversation on 1 April, comes as tensions ease after a 2020 Galwan Valley clash between their troops along their shared border in the Himalayas.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said the China and India should find ways to coexist peacefully and that he was ready to deepen communication and coordination in major international affairs, and jointly safeguard peace in border areas.
China is willing to buy more Indian products to balance trade, Beijing’s Ambassador Xu Feihong said just ahead of an anticipated Reciprocal Tariff announcement from US President Donald Trump on April 2.
“We are willing to work with the Indian side to strengthen practical cooperation in trade and other areas, and to import more Indian products that are well-suited to the Chinese market,” the ambassador to India was quoted as saying by China’s state-run Global Times, in a story posted Monday.
