China on Monday said the landmark Guiding Principles on the settlement of the boundary issue with India has removed the barriers in the development of good-neighbourly ties between the two Asian countries.

In 2005, China and India reached an agreement on political principles for the settlement of border dispute.

This settlement wiped out the barrier that impeded all-around cooperation between the two countries, the state-run People's Daily said in a commentary on China's relations with its 30 neighbours.

India and China had signed the Agreement on Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for the Settlement of India-China Boundary Question during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's state visit to India in April 2005.

The commentary noted that since 1990s, China has, through repeated consultations on equal-footing and mutual accommodation and mutual concessions, have properly settled border disputes with Russia [Images], Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Laos and Vietnam that have been left over by history, so that its long borders with these countries have become genuine ties of peace and harmony.

The article, commenting on Chinese President Hu Jintao's recent visit to four Asian countries, including India, hailed the trip as a milestone in efforts to foster friendly relations with neighbouring countries.

Those significant events and activities not only concerned those neighbouring countries of China but also got great attention in the international community, it said.

During Hu's maiden state visit to India, both sides, in a Joint Declaration, had said that both sides are committed to resolving outstanding differences, including on the boundary question, through peaceful means and in a fair, reasonable, mutually acceptable and proactive manner, while ensuring that such differences are not allowed to affect the positive development of bilateral relations.

"An early settlement of the boundary question will advance the basic interests of the two countries and shall, therefore, be pursued as a strategic objective," the declaration had said.

The two special representatives on the border issue shall complete at an early date the task of finalising an appropriate framework for a final package settlement covering all sectors of the India-China boundary.

Pending the resolution of the boundary question, both sides shall maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas in accordance with the agreements of 1993, 1996 and 2005, the declaration had said.

For years, China has scored fruitful outcome of friendship and mutual benefit with its neighbouring countries by resorting to a good-neighbourly diplomacy to take them as friends and partners, the commentary noted.

The country has been dedicated itself to the development of a harmonious Asia and a harmonious world, it said while pointing out that China is a nation with most neighbours globally as it has nearly 30 neighbours, and 14 of them are linked directly with it.

China's good-neighbourly policy is of special importance, since it has ties of special complexity with its neighbours owing to rich historical traditions, diversified cultures and religious beliefs, and differential social systems and cultural development, the commentary said.

The Chinese foreign policy is based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence, founded jointly by India, China and Myanmar, it said.

'Peaceful coexistence was once an ideal concept long aspired and pursued by people globally during the cold war era and, with the end of cold war, peace, development and cooperation became a new world trend,' it said.

To cope with the new global situation, the 16^th National Congress of the CPC held in 2002 set forth China's good neighbourly policy of taking its neighbours as friends and partners.

This new policy is the inevitable choice of conforming to a new trend and responding to new challenges, so as to win over a sound external environment for development and to promote regional tranquility and prosperity, the commentary said.

"The policy of 'taking neighbours as good friends and partners' represents the inheritance of fine traditions of the Chinese nation. The people of China have become long aware of the importance of being friendly with their neighbours in their prolonged historical periods," it added.