Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming has claimed that China never takes India as a "strategic rival"; rather they consider India to be a good neighbor.

"I would say, we never take India as a strategic rival. We still hope that the China-India relationship can be improved. So, never imagine that China would like to have any hostile or rival attitude to India. That's not the case," said the envoy.

He made the remarks while responding to a question at an online symposium titled "Bangladesh-China Relations: Prognosis for the Future", The Daily Star reported.

The envoy mentioned some platforms where the two countries are working together. "We're still working very, very well together, very closely."

"Any Chinese intellectual, who is well-educated, would have a special feeling. A good feeling, towards India - that is something untold publicly probably," he said.

Replying to a question on Quad -- the four-country alliance between the USA, Australia, Japan and India that is seen as anti-Beijing -- the Ambassador said "the first foreign policy lesson I learned is that Bangladesh adheres to the idea of friendship to all and malice to none. So, I have full confidence that Bangladesh will not be part of that small clique," he said.

"But when I was asked if you would like to see or do you think this is a good idea for Bangladesh to do so, of course, I would say no. What else can you expect from me? Should I say yes? That would have been ridiculous. So that is the story about Quad," Ambassador Li added.

(SAM)