External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha on Monday asked Pakistan to take cue from the approach that India and China had adopted to resolve their differences.

"The wisdom of adopting such an approach to India-Pakistan relations is self-evident. I hope our [Western] neighbour will not keep its eyes forever shut to this truth," Sinha said while inaugurating a three-day conference on Asian security and China in New Delhi.

He said New Delhi and Beijing had 'shown the wisdom to move ahead in their bilateral relations even as contentious issues such as the border dispute are separately addressed'.

"Economic integration and an overall improvement in relations has not been held hostage to differences over specific issues, however important those issues be," he said at the conference organised by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.

China's nuclear weapons policy caused India 'deep concern', he said adding Beijing's claim to the state of Sikkim and its opposition to a permanent Indian seat on the UN Security Council 'sows doubts' in New Delhi.

But he denied that there was a battle of 'battle of supremacy' between India and China. "Let me debunk these theories completely and state with full conviction that India neither pursues nor makes policy towards China based on the belief that conflict between the two is inevitable."

Drawing a parallel with Mao Tse Tung's slogan of 'power flows from the barrel of the gun', he said, "Power in the 21^st century will flow primarily from the pores of a well-run economy."

The minister said New Delhi's approach to relations with Beijing 'is and will remain forward-looking and infused with a sense of optimism'.

"India's policies will not be based on fear of Chinese power nor envy of China's economic achievements. They will be based on the conviction that a prosperous India is inevitable. So is a strong and prosperous China."

Sinha said it was logical, reasonable and in the interests of both nations to address the differences and build on what was common.

"Further, both India and China are too large and too strong to be contained or cowed down by any country, including each other," he said.

Sino-Indian trade had grown from about $247 million in 1991 to $4.3 billion last year, he said adding that the swamping of the Indian market by Chinese goods, which was described by the media as 'the second Chinese invasion', had led Indian producers to stand their ground.

On bilateral cooperation, he said the two nations had decided to move ahead in diverse areas while simultaneously finding ways and means of resolving differences 'through dialogue and peaceful means'.