India, China Share Two Millennia Of Learning And Dialogue: Indian Envoy

Indian Ambassador to China Vikram Doraiswami has said that mutual learning of languages and a sustained dialogue of ideas over two millennia have been a defining feature of India-China relations.

Doraiswami, who assumed charge as India’s envoy to China last month, made the remarks during a visit to the Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) , where he delivered a lecture and interacted with students and faculty members. BFSU, a leading institution for foreign language studies in China, currently offers courses in 102 languages, including Indian languages such as Tamil, Hindi, Bengali, Sanskrit, and Urdu, and has recently added Punjabi to its curriculum.

During the lecture, the envoy, a fluent Mandarin speaker, emphasised that exchanges dating back to the Mauryan period and continuing into the modern era reflect how the world’s two oldest continuous civilizations have benefited from the exchange of knowledge, philosophy, artistic traditions, technologies, and innovation .

He noted that such interactions have historically strengthened mutual understanding and remain relevant today as both countries experience significant economic, technological, and social transformation.

According to a post by the Indian Embassy in Beijing on social media platform X, Doraiswami also stressed the importance of people-to-people exchanges and greater academic collaboration to improve understanding of each other’s contemporary realities.

He further underlined the need for deeper knowledge and academic engagement to strengthen bilateral ties in the current global context.

The lecture was followed by an interactive session in which the envoy responded to questions from students. During his visit, Doraiswami was also briefed on BFSU’s academic activities by its President Jia Wenjian.