Foreign Minister Wang Yi expressed high hopes for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's expected visit to China this year and said the two neighbors should strengthen cooperation toward the settlement of their boundary question. Wang made the remarks at a press conference in Beijing on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature.

"The Chinese people believe in reciprocating the courtesy of others, so I'm sure when Prime Minister Modi visits China later this year, he will be warmly welcomed by the Chinese government and people," Wang said.

China is prepared to work with India to implement the important agreement reached by the leaders, Wang said.

"The 'Chinese dragon' and 'Indian elephant' should join each other to work for the early revitalization of two Eastern civilizations, common prosperity of two emerging markets and amicable coexistence of two large neighbors," Wang said.

China and India have been working on the boundary issue for many years, they have made some progress in boundary negotiations, and "the dispute has been contained", Wang said.

"At the moment, the boundary negotiation is in the process of building up small positive developments. It is like climbing a mountain. The going is tough, and that's only because we are on the way up.

"That's the reason we should do more to strengthen China-India cooperation so that we can enable and facilitate the settlement of the boundary question," Wang said.