Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged China and India on Monday to focus on ‘mutual support and mutual achievement’ instead of ‘suspicion’ and ‘alienation’. Speaking at a press conference in Beijing following a meeting with India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, Wang said, “The good bilateral relations currently established are also based on last year’s progress when Chinese President Xi Jinping had a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the BRICS summit.”.
“The two sides should seize the opportunity, meet each other halfway, explore more substantive measures, and commit to mutual understanding, mutual support, and mutual achievement,” Wang said, adding that the development of China-India relations aligns with the “fundamental interests” of both nations.
Misri is the second high-level visit by China to India in more than a month. The aim behind this engagement was to heal frayed ties as a protracted military standoff at the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh had severely dented their ties. In another important meeting, he met Liu Jianchao, head of the Communist Party’s International Department, to discuss implementation of agreements and ways to improve stability in the relationship.
Later, Misri is to meet Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong to further discuss the issues. This visit forms part of a larger exercise in strengthening political, economic, and people-to-people ties between the two nations.
Though progress has been made on disengagement from the border, both sides are still working on de-escalation and troop withdrawals after the 2020 Galwan clash. New Delhi has stated that progress on border issues remains one of the key factors in fully normalizing ties.
