Thursday, December 22 2005 09:48 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: India's engagement with the United States should not be seen as detracting from its relationship with China as New Delhi believes that dialogues with both the nations will help contribute to peace and stability in Asia, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran has said.

"I don't think one should look at India-United States relations as somehow detracting from the US relationship with China or India's relations with China. I think this has been very clearly stated by the US leadership itself that they do not (not) regard improvement of relationship between India and China as something which would not be welcomed by the United States," Saran said here yesterday (Dec 21,2005).

Saran, who addressed an interactive session at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said, "We are engaged in a dialogue with both partners, both very important countries and that such a dialogue will help contribute to peace and stability in the Asian region."

Saran maintained that there were a number of transnational issues on which both India and the United States were cooperating and that the two countries agreed on the need for an Asia that was secure and stable.

The Foreign Secretary said India and China were 'emerging' powers in Asia and the US could contribute to the security 'architecture' in the region.

"There is transformation taking place in Asia. There is the emergence of China and the emergence of India. You need an evolving security architecture which is able to accommodate these changes, which are taking place, and there are ways in which the US could contribute to this," he said.

Pointing to the importance of the Indo-US dialogue, he said that though there were areas of 'convergence' and 'divergence' between both but "What is very important is today for the first time on a whole range of issues, the United States and India are very intensively engaged."

The Foreign Secretary is here for two days of talks with members of the Bush administration for crucial talks on the landmark bilateral deal.