Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi to meet EAM Jaishankar today
Wang’s visit assumes significance as it comes less than a fortnight before PM Modi’s planned trip to China to attend the SCO Summit.
The normalisation of bilateral relations, including de-escalation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), and confidence-building measures related to the border are expected to feature in a meeting between external affairs minister S Jaishankar and his visiting Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Monday.
Wang is set to meet Jaishankar two hours after he arrives in New Delhi on Monday afternoon for a two-day visit, during which he will also hold talks under the Special Representatives mechanism with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.
Wang’s visit assumes significance as it comes less than a fortnight before Modi’s planned trip to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit. This will be Modi’s first visit to China since the start of the military face-off on the LAC in April-May 2020, and he is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with President Xi Jinping on the margins of the SCO Summit. This will be their second meeting since the end of the standoff on the LAC last October.
At his last meeting with Wang in Beijing on July 14, Jaishankar had said that India and China must build on “good progress” in normalising their relations by addressing issues related to the border, including de-escalation, and avoid “restrictive trade measures and roadblocks” to economic cooperation.
{{/usCountry}}At his last meeting with Wang in Beijing on July 14, Jaishankar had said that India and China must build on “good progress” in normalising their relations by addressing issues related to the border, including de-escalation, and avoid “restrictive trade measures and roadblocks” to economic cooperation.
{{/usCountry}}Though the two countries reached an understanding on October 21, 2024, on ending the face-off on the LAC by withdrawing frontline forces from the two remaining “friction points” of Demchok and Depsang, they are yet to complete the process of de-escalation and pulling back troops to peacetime positions. During the standoff, which took bilateral relations to a six-decade low, the two sides arrayed some 50,000 troops each in Ladakh sector of the LAC.
{{/usCountry}}Though the two countries reached an understanding on October 21, 2024, on ending the face-off on the LAC by withdrawing frontline forces from the two remaining “friction points” of Demchok and Depsang, they are yet to complete the process of de-escalation and pulling back troops to peacetime positions. During the standoff, which took bilateral relations to a six-decade low, the two sides arrayed some 50,000 troops each in Ladakh sector of the LAC.
{{/usCountry}}The 24th meeting of the Special Representatives mechanism on Tuesday is expected to take up measures for peace and tranquillity along the contested border, including resumption of border trade, review the situation on the LAC, and explore a mutually acceptable framework for addressing the border dispute, people familiar with the matter said.
{{/usCountry}}The 24th meeting of the Special Representatives mechanism on Tuesday is expected to take up measures for peace and tranquillity along the contested border, including resumption of border trade, review the situation on the LAC, and explore a mutually acceptable framework for addressing the border dispute, people familiar with the matter said.
{{/usCountry}}At their last meeting in December, Doval and Wang “resolved to inject more vitality into this process”, according to an Indian readout.
After his meeting with Doval, Wang will meet Modi at the prime minister’s official residence on Tuesday evening. He will leave India early on Wednesday morning.
Wang’s visit is also part of preparations for Modi’s upcoming visit to China for the SCO Summit on August 31 and September 1.
Following the thaw in bilateral relations created by the understanding on troop withdrawal last October, India and China resumed the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra to the Tibet region in April, and New Delhi resumed tourist visas for Chinese nationals in July.
The two sides are in advanced negotiations on resuming direct flights and trade through selected border posts, and there has been “forward movement” on restrictions imposed by China on fertiliser exports to India, the people said.
Several reports have suggested Wang is expected to travel to Kabul from New Delhi for a trilateral meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar and Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. The meeting was earlier scheduled to be held in Islamabad last month but Muttaqi was unable to travel to Pakistan because of travel restrictions related to UN Security Council sanctions against him.
The reports also suggested that Wang may make a trip to Islamabad.
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