Photo: China Foreign Ministry's spokesperson Lin Jian

Asked to confirm and comment on media reports that India and China are set to resume direct flight connections as soon as next month and airlines in India have been asked by the Indian government to prepare flights to China at short notice, with a possible official announcement as soon as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit at the end of August in China, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Thursday that China noted relevant reports. 

"The total population of China and India combined is over 2.8 billion. Resuming direct flights between the Chinese mainland and India helps facilitate cross-border travel, exchanges and cooperation. For some time, the Chinese side has been in close communication with India to promote the early resumption of direct flights between the two countries," Lin said.

Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that India and China were set to resume direct flight connections as soon as next month, citing "people familiar with the negotiations," and noting that the world's two most populous countries seek to reset their political ties.

Airlines in India have been asked by the government to prepare flights to China at short notice, with a possible official announcement as soon as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit at the end of August in China, said the people, according to Bloomberg.

Also on Thursday, when asked how China sees the bilateral relations with India evolve and how the countries can work together on the global stage, amid a positive momentum of China-India relations recently, just as India's ties with the US face challenges, Lin said that China and India are both major developing countries and important members of the Global South, and cooperative pas de deux of the dragon and the elephant as partners helping each other succeed is the right choice for both sides.  

"China stands ready to work with India to act on the important common understandings reached between leaders of our two countries, consistently increase political mutual trust, expand exchanges and cooperation together, properly handle differences while bearing in mind the bigger picture, and strengthen coordination and cooperation on such multilateral platforms as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, with a view to promoting the sound and steady development of China-India relations," Lin said. 

Global Times