China says ties with India now see progress

China on Monday said its ties with India hold "great potential" and have witnessed new progress after a flurry of high-level exchanges.

Beijing and New Delhi are making efforts to repair the relations damaged by the 73-day military stand-off between their armies last year.

It is evident from the increase in visits by top diplomats from both countries, including the low-key one by NSA Ajit Doval last week.

"This year, under the guidance of the two leaders, China-India relations have been developing with a sound momentum. We have seen close exchanges at all levels and new progress in all around-cooperation," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.

"Just like you said, member of the political bureau Yang Jiechi met the Indian National Security Advisor Doval in Shanghai and also the 11th Joint Economic Group meeting and the 5th Strategic Economic Dialogue were held successfully."

Hua was responding to a question by the Chinese media about the warmth in India-China ties.

"Officials from the two foreign ministers also met. The two sides held working mechanism meeting on border affairs and cross border rivers. This interaction show that China and India share a wide range of common interests and our bilateral cooperation holds great potential.

"China attaches great importance to developing relations with India and we would like to work together to implement the consensus reached by leaders, stick to the right path of the bilateral ties, accumulate more positive energy, explore new areas for cooperation and ensure sound and steady development of bilateral ties," Hua added.

India's Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will visit China later this month.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit China in June to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Summit where he will hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.