China has welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks on Indo-Sino relations, and said that maintaining a “sound and steady bilateral relationship” was important, IANS reported on Tuesday.

During his visit to Russia on Saturday, Modi had said, “It is true that we have a border dispute with China. But in the last 40 years, not a single bullet has been fired because of it.”

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said they welcomed the “positive remarks”. “We have been stressing that as two major countries China and India maintaining sound, steady and in-depth growth of the bilateral relationship is of great significance.” She added that the two countries have “taken serious measures to maintain peace and tranquillity of the border” and that their bilateral ties would benefit the entire region, PTI reported.

However, Hua’s remarks come just as China has once again opposed India’s entry to the Nuclear Suppliers Group. China’s assistant minister of foreign affairs Li Huilai on Monday said India’s bid to enter the NSG had become “more complicated” under the “new circumstances”.