The Chinese foreign minister is in Delhi and has discussed the border situation with his Indian counterpart. Both S Jaishankar, India’s foreign minister, and China’s Wang Yi have agreed to “move forward” the talks of descalation on the Line of Actual Control and improving relations between the two countries. The ministers have also prepared for the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to China by the end of the month for the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) summit. After meeting the foreign minister of India, Wang Yi will also meet the National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, on Tuesday.
Honouring the Chinese foreign minister in a special gesture, PM Modi also met him on Tuesday evening. Earlier, the leaders also met in Kazan and decided to normalise ties after the 2020 LAC standoff. India, on its part, has also started issuing tourist visas to Chinese citizens. Wang’s visit is the first of its kind since Kazan in 2024, and also one of the many attempts to make things normal between the two countries. Earlier this year, the Kailash-Mansarovar yatra was also resumed, and the leaders are also planning to improve trade relations. The meeting between Jaishankar and Wang Yi was held at the Hyderabad House, where Mr. Jaishankar remarked that after seeing a tumultuous phase in the relationship, both countries are committed to moving forward.
He further stated that to make any effort to improve the relations, the border issues must be resolved, and the LAC de-escalation must move faster for it. This is important to highlight, as even after 10 months since the last meeting, the de-escalation on borders has not moved to the status quo before April 2020, while other areas of conflict seem to have been resolved. Both sides are also planning to share data on the river waters and starting direct flights between India and China, which have also been suspended since 2020.
The spokesperson of the foreign ministry in China has earlier said that China is ready for a positive and constructive talk with India for normalising their relations. Mao Ning, the spokesperson, stated that the representatives of China are willing to take matters forward after the last round of talks between Mr. Wang and Mr. Doval and cooperate on border issues.
