Kochi, Tuesday 11 August 2009: Union Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor today said India and China had ‘very important substantive’ relationship that goes beyond the ‘boundary problem’.

Talking to newspersons at the Regional Passport Office here, Tharoor said ”the relationship between the two countries should not be seen only in the context of the problem, but in the context of opportunities.”

Throwing light on the Indo-Sino relations, Tharoor said China is our largest trading partner, if the IT services are not included in the trading volume. The collaborations between business establishments of the two countries are ever increasing.

”Indian companies are opening offices in Shanghai and the Chinese companies have their presence in the country. Numerous Chinese people are being employed at IT companies like Infosys,” he said.

On the recently concluded border talks between India and China, he said ”while the boundary talks are important, we have an important substantive relationship going beyond the boundary problem.” He said the continuation of the boundary talks with China was confirmation that the relationship remained fundamentally healthy.