China hopes for better ties with India in 2017 by resolving differences over India's admission into elite Nuclear Suppliers Group and listing if chief Masood as terrorist by the United Nations as the nations signed iff their most engaging year bogged down by the twin issues. "This year has seen a development of China India relations, with the two countries marching towards the goal of building a more closely knit partnership for development," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson told press summing up Beijing's perception of the outgoing year and its vision of Sino-Indian ties for the next year. "The leadership of the two countries have maintained frequent contacts" despite the differences, said referring to a number of meetings between PM Modi and Chinese President at multilateral foras like G-20 and BRICS summit. She said that the dialogues and consultations and have been going on in an orderly fashion at all levels and practical cooperation in various fields has been carried out steadily. "As a close neighbours, it is natural for our two big countries to have differences, and we have been exploring ways to resolve them through diplomatic channels. The main theme of China-India relations remains friendship and cooperation," she said, holding out hope for a more fruitful year for bilateral ties next year with the resolution of the two major issues. "For the year, China would like to work with India for better implementation of the important consensus reached between the leadership, greater political mutual trust wider mutually beneficial co-operation, properly management of differences so as to ensure sustained China India relations," she said. The strength of the deep engagement between the two sides virtually begin with the New Year as China's second technical hold on India's application for listing Masood as terrorist under UN's Committee will expire on December . The charge was expected to further India's case for a UN ban against Azhar.