Competitions between China and India do not necessarily mean confrontation between the two neighboring Asian nations, Indian minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh said here Sunday.

"These two giants must cooperate, as the Chinese leaders say, in a harmonious manner," Ramesh said at the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) annual conference which concluded Sunday in south China's island province of Hainan.

Ramesh said both sides have to move forward and compromise.

For example, he said cooperation between India and China in the United Nations climate change conference last December in Copenhagen could become a "trigger for deepening cooperation" between the two nations in all fields.

At a panel discussion, Ramesh was asked whether the competition between the two nations was as fierce as what was described in The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What It Means for All of Us, a book written by American journalist Rogyn Meredith.