Wen said the solution should be based on the principles of equal consultations, mutual understanding and accommodation and reciprocal adjustments. To solve the issue, the two sides should first make efforts to maintain peace in the border area, he added.

The progress of China-India relations is satisfactory, said Wen, 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, he said, underlining that exchanges between the two governments and between private enterprises of the two countries are conducive to mutual understanding and mutually beneficial cooperation.

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, he said.

This has become China's fundamental national policy which will never change, he said.

The Chinese, having suffered a great deal from invasion and humiliation, long for peace and stability, he said, adding that 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, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency June 24, 2003)