India, China reaffirm ties following Obama\\\'s New Delhi trip

BEIJING, Feb 2 (agencies): China and India are reaffirming their ties following U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to New Delhi that underscored Beijing's complicated relationship with both countries.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday welcomed India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to Beijing and said he expected greater developments in ties between the two Asian giants this year. Swaraj is attending a trilateral forum in Beijing among China, India and Russia.
 Obama's visit to India last month was seen in China as an attempt to deepen U.S. influence in countries on China's periphery.
Beijing's relations with New Delhi received a big boost from Xi's visit to the country in September, although the sides still differ over their disputed border, unequal trade and China's attempts to expand its influence into the Indian Ocean.
Another report adds: Chinese President Xi Jinping Monday hailed his country's relations with India and Russia as Beijing looks to increase its heft on the global diplomatic stage.
Twin visits by New Delhi's foreign minister Sushma Swaraj and Sergei Lavrov from Moscow come on the heels of a high-profile trip to India by US President Barack Obama last week, and with Russian leader Vladimir Putin globally isolated over the conflict in Ukraine.
Xi told Swaraj that China-India ties "have entered a new stage of growth" since he visited in September.
"The positive side of China-India relations has been growing, the momentum of our cooperation has been strengthening," he added.
China and India are the world's two most populous countries but ties between the nuclear-armed neighbours are still characterised by mutual suspicion, in large part as a legacy of a brief but bloody war in 1962 and a continuing border dispute.
But Swaraj was similarly effusive, telling Xi that "relations between our two countries have risen to a whole new level".
The Indian and Russian ministers' trips to Beijing-for a three-way meeting with their Chinese counterpart-came after Obama last week visited India.
The US and India share an interest in curbing Beijing's growing regional influence.
Although neither mentioned China by name during the three-day visit, Obama welcomed what he called a "greater role for India in the Asia-Pacific".
Freedom of navigation in the region must be upheld, he added.
Beijing claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea.
To Lavrov, meanwhile, Xi expressed his satisfaction with China-Russia ties.
Beijing and Moscow, allies and then adversaries during the Cold War, have found common ground internationally and often take similar stands at the UN Security Council where they have permanent veto powers.