NEW DELHI: China has painted an upbeat picture of its ties with India in its latest policy document on Asia-Pacific security, saying their partnership has “deepened”, but skirted references to contentious issues such as India’s NSG bid and efforts to get JeM chief Masood Azhar banned by the UN.A white paper titled “China’s Policies on Asia-Pacific Security Cooperation”, released on Wednesday, said China and India made “new progress” in bilateral exchanges amid divergence in ties over China-Pakistan-Economic Corridor and India’s growing strategic partnership with Vietnam.Besides, in an interesting reference to counter-terrorism, the document without naming Pakistan, noted, “China believes that dialogue among different civilizations should be enhanced and a holistic approach taken to eliminate the breeding grounds of terrorism by addressing both its symptoms and root causes by political, economic and diplomatic means.At the same time, there should be no double standard in fighting terrorism, which should not be associated with any particular country, ethnicity or religion.”“Since 2015, the China-India strategic and cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity has been deepened. The two countries have set the goal of forging a closer development partnership, made new progress in exchanges and cooperation in various areas and stayed in close communication and coordination on regional and international issues,” the paper said.However, it avoided any reference to the differences over India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and Beijing’s blocking of India’s bid to get Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Azhar designated as a global terrorist by the UN. Referring to PM Narendra Modi’s meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang on various multilateral forums, it said, “the two countries have maintained communication and coordination on international affairs and enhanced collaboration in the UN, BRICS , G20, China-India-Russia and other mechanisms.”We Must Keep Talking India-China relations are complex and multi-layered. Given the global ambitions of both countries, and that both India and China are growing economies albeit positoned at different places on the growth spectrum, relations will always be complex, positive in some areas and not-so positive or negative in others. India must work together with China to further its interests, and not gloss over the areas where there is discord. It should leverage the positive partnership to continue the dialogue and find solutions on contentious issues.