India's distinguished diplomat, former foreign minister Natwar Singh has called on closer cooperation between India and China, saying that the two Asian neighbors can do a lot for peace and development in the region.

At a ceremony releasing his book on China Saturday, "My China Diary, 1956-1988", Singh, who was foreign minister from 2002 to 2005, said it would be in India's interest to have good relations with both China and the United States, while expressing opposition to the theory that India and the United States should get together to keep China's influence down.

The ceremony was held at the governor's house in Chennai, southern India's Tamil Nadu state, at the presence of Tamil Nadu governor Surjit Singh Barnala, reported the local daily the Hindu on Sunday.

Singh said at the ceremony that for the next 15 to 20 years, China would concentrate on economic development, increasing the standard of living of the people, rather than embarking on any adventurous foreign policy, according to the report.

On his new book which records Chinese-Indian relations from 1956-1988, Singh said: "I kept a diary then, but I could not find it for a number of years. Then it turned up one year."

In the book, Singh wrote about his experience as a diplomat posted in Beijing, the 1960 visit by Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai to India and the 1988 visit to Beijing by Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.