NEW DELHI: The Chinese expressed no regret for their intrusion into eastern Ladakh, which has been billed as the most serious border incident with Beijing in many years. But foreign minister Salman Khurshid enamoured by his Chinese hosts gushed that he would “love to live in Beijing.”

Days after Chinese troops were persuaded to withdraw from Depsang Bulge in eastern Ladakh, Khurshid said that he “did not do a postmortem or apportion blame” during his talks with the Chinese. “On the problem on the LAC, both countries are on the same page,” he said, adding, “We don’t have prickly issues of significant difference.”

Khurshid’s visit took on such a rosy hue that it’s difficult to believe India and China were on the verge of a border conflict just a week ago. The foreign minister’s remarks militate against the hectic efforts by the government in the past few weeks to get the Chinese to withdraw from Indian territory.

However, after telling reporters in Beijing that he didn’t raise the Chinese intrusion or seek a reason from them, he clarified in New Delhi that he had told them “the next day” that “we should analyze our respective systems about why such an incident happened”.

Defence minister A K Antony was obviously not in the same page as Khurshid, because he took a much stronger line, saying, “Each country has a right to build border infrastructure in their own land. If China has a right to develop infrastructure, India also has a right. Over the years, the building of infrastructure has been going on."

The foreign minister took a rather benign view of relations with the Chinese. Describing his meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang as “outstanding”, Khurshid said he was met by foreign minister Wang Yi as soon as he landed, a gesture he regarded as being special. Describing Li’s forthcoming visit as one of “high priority”, he said the Chinese justified making India their first stop as being “carefully planned”.

Khurshid said the two countries were working on a joint statement where India and China might cooperate on areas like micro-irrigation and waste-water management. This year, he said, would see two PM visits between India and China almost back-to-back. Khurshid made much of the fact that China used the occasion of his visit to release two Indian traders imprisoned in Yiwu. These traders had been kidnapped and tortured for days before the Indian Embassy rescued them in 2011. Khurshid said that the announcement prompted him to push for the release of six Gujarati diamond merchants who remain in Chinese custody. China had released 13 traders during the visit of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.

In fact, the only area where Khurshid appears to have taken a tougher line was on bilateral trade. India has put the brakes on a regional trading arrangement being worked out with China until the bilateral trade imbalance is corrected. However, despite having concerns on the issue, Khurshid invited the Chinese to prospect for an industrial park for Chinese firms in India. This may not fly with different arms of the government who are wary of letting the Chinese get too much of a foothold in India, while Indian companies are deliberately kept out of China,

