The Chinese government on Thursday said it "strongly condemned" Wednesday’s blasts in Mumbai, adding that it was ready to work with India to "jointly fight against terrorism".
"We are shocked by the heavy casualties and losses caused by the blasts," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a statement.
"China firmly opposes terrorism in any form and will work with the international community, including India, to jointly fight against terrorism in order to maintain the peace and stability of the region and the world as a whole," the statement said.
In a regular press briefing later on Thursday, Mr. Hong said the Chinese government "expresses its sincere solicitude" to the Indian government and to those affected by the blasts.
"China," he said, "firmly opposes terrorism in all its manifestations". "We believe that terrorism is a common enemy of the international community, which must make efforts to crack down on terrorism to safeguard peace and stability of the region and the world."
"We believe in order to eradicate terrorism, we must address both the symptoms and root causes of it."
"Terrorism," he added, "cannot be linked to specific ethnic groups or religions."
Asked about concerns that the attacks may have been carried out by groups with the aim of disrupting talks between India and Pakistan, Mr. Hong said China "supported India and Pakistan improving their relations".
"Both India and Pakistan are friendly neighbours of China, and also major countries of South Asia," he said.
"The improvement of India and Pakistan relations can only be conducive to peace and stability of South Asia, but also of great important to the peace and stability of whole Asia."
