India and China have been friends for 99.9% of the time in over 2,000 years of exchanges between them, Beijing’s chief negotiator in boundary talks Dai Bingguo says, underlining that the two sides should “cast off” the shadow of the 1962 war and build a bright future together.

As China’s point man for India, Dai, who is set to retire in March next year, negotiated with four top Indian officials — Brajesh Mishra, JN Dixit, MK Narayanan and present national security advisor Shivshankar Menon — on the border issue and normalisation of relations.

“More and more people of vision in India believe that our two countries should cast off the shadow of history in a forward-looking spirit, and the past should guide rather than hinder our endeavour to build a bright future together. I fully agree with this view,” 71-year-old Dai, who has had the longest engagement with India during the 15 rounds of border talks, said in an interview to PTI.