Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi on Friday, India’s Foreign Ministry said.
China’s top diplomat landed in New Delhi late Thursday evening, after visiting Pakistan and Afghanistan as part of his South Asia tour this week. He is set to fly to Nepal later Friday for a three-day visit.
This marked the first high-level visit to India by a Chinese official since deadly clashes along the disputed India-China border in June 2020 strained ties between the two Asian giants.
Despite reports in local media for a week, neither China nor India had officially confirmed the visit before Wang landed in New Delhi.
What we know about the talks
Wang will meet the Indian foreign minister before noon, and is also expected to meet India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, according to local media reports.
Wang and Jaishankar will likely discuss the standoff along the India-China border, the war in Ukraine, as well as India’s in-person participation in a summit of emerging economies, known as BRICS, for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, to be held later this year.
Wang, who visited Pakistan for three days, however, generated some controversy before his arrival with his comments at a conference of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Tuesday.
“On Kashmir, we have heard again today the calls of many of our Islamic friends. And China shares the same hope,” he said at the OIC meeting.
Both India and Pakistan claim the Muslim-majority territory in full, but only control parts of it and have gone to war twice over it.
In response to Wang’s comments, India’s Foreign Ministry said it rejected “the uncalled reference to India by the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his speech at the Opening Ceremony” at the OIC.
“Matter related to the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir are entirely the internal affairs of India,” it added.
Meanwhile, neither India nor China has condemned Russia, whom they’re both allied with, over its invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier this month, China reached out to India and proposed a series of events to lay the foundation for the BRICS summit, to be hosted by China.
Why did India and China relations deteriorate?
Relations between India and China took a nosedive after Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed in the Galwan river valley in eastern Ladakh, which is along the Line of Actual Control, the de facto boundary that separates India and China.
Soldiers along the disputed mountain border clashed with iron rods and stones, which resulted in the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers and at least 4 Chinese soldiers.
Indian and Chinese military commanders have held multiple rounds of talks and have disengaged from friction points along the disputed boundary, but the situation continues to remain tense with hundreds of soldiers from both sides still stationed in the mountainous Himalayan region.
rm/sri (Reuters, AP)
Chinese foreign minister in India for first visit since border clash
Source: Pinoy Pop News
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