New Delhi, Aug 19 — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Tuesday that the “setbacks” in bilateral ties in recent years were not in the interest of either nation, and urged both sides to “settle specific issues along the borders” to create conditions for improved relations.
Wang, speaking at the opening of the 24th round of Special Representative (SR)-level talks on the boundary question, said he was ready to build consensus on concrete goals. “The setbacks we experienced in the past few years were not in the interest of the people of our two countries,” Wang said, without directly mentioning the standoff in Eastern Ladakh or the Galwan clash.
Recalling last October’s meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazan, Russia, Wang said their guidance should be followed. “This should include an increase in mutual trust through strategic communication and to properly settle the specific issues in the borders so as to advance our relationship in a healthy and sound manner,” he noted.
Doval, leading the Indian delegation, said ties had improved since the last round of SR-level talks in December. “Borders have been quiet, there has been peace and tranquillity, and our bilateral engagement has been more substantial,” the NSA said.
Both leaders pointed to the Modi-Xi understanding at Kazan, where the SRs were tasked with ensuring calm along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and working out a “fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable” solution to the boundary dispute.
Doval said the leaders had set a “new trend” in bilateral ties. “The new environment created by the two leaders has been helpful in areas that we are working on,” he remarked. He also noted the special significance of the current talks ahead of Modi’s scheduled visit to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) leaders’ summit.
Wang, for his part, said China attached “great importance” to Modi’s SCO visit, calling it an “important opportunity of improvement and growth” in ties. He added, “History proves that a healthy and stable China-India relationship serves fundamental, long-term interests of both our countries. It is also what the developing countries all want to see.”
The Chinese minister said last December’s talks had produced “specific goals and a working framework,” adding, “We are heartened to see the stability that is now restored at the borders.”
Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, who met Wang Yi a day earlier, stressed that the process of de-escalation along the LAC needed to move forward. “The basis for any positive momentum in our ties is the ability to jointly maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas. It is also essential that the de-escalation process move forward,” Jaishankar said.
