Li, from Tsinghua University, who is also deputy secretary-general of the World Peace Forum, a diplomatic think tank backed by the Chinese government, said, "Developmental cooperation is pragmatic, but it doesn't mean that we don't want strategic cooperation.

Zhang said: "We need to define our relationship from the strategic perspective, with bilateral, regional and global dimensions. Similar to France and Germany in Europe, China and India should take the lead on multilateralism in Asia."

He added that cooperation on regional and global affairs would help to enhance mutual trust.