The Chinese leadership on Monday warmly greeted their Indian counterparts on the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Panchsheel principles, which they said offered a 'political foundation' and a 'fundamental guarantee' for bilateral ties to progress healthily and steadily.

Panchsheel, jointly initiated by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his Chinese counterpart, Zhou Enlai on June 28, 1954 includes mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit and peaceful co-existence.

Jointly developing and deepening the long-term constructive and cooperative partnership between China and India on the five principles conforms to the fundamental interests of the two peoples and will continuously contribute to peace, stability and development in Asia and the entire world, Chinese President Hu Jintao said.

In his message to his Indian counterpart, A P J Abdul Kalam, Hu said China would like to make joint efforts with all other countries, including India, to continuously enrich and carry forward the spirit of the five principles so as to make fresh contributions to human peace and progress.

"The formation of the five principles of peaceful coexistence, initiated jointly by China and India 50 years ago, was a pioneering effort in the 20th-century history of international relations and an important contribution to the cause of peace and development of humanity," Hu, also general secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China, said.

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He noted that over half a century, the five principles have withstood the test of history, won extensive recognition from the international community and become a major set of norms governing state-to-state relations.

"At present, the five principles are still of tremendous relevance as a guide for action for world peace and common development," the Chinese president said.

"China will firmly pursue the independent foreign policy of peace, forge and develop friendship and partnership with neighbours and remain committed to good neighbourly and friendly relations and mutually-beneficial cooperation with surrounding countries," he said.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, in his message to his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, said the five principles are a political foundation for China-India relations and a fundamental guarantee for the relations to progress healthily and steadily.

The Chinese government highly values its good neighbourly relations and friendship with India and is ready to work together to further enhance the mutual understanding and trust, reinforce exchanges and cooperation in various fields and properly handle and resolve the issues left over by history so as to continuously add new strength to the bilateral relationship.