Chinese Foreign Minister says ‘ready to work with India’

Making an emphatic note amid India-China border tension, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, on Sunday, said that Beijing is ready to work with India through steady and sound growth of the relations, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry website. 

While addressing the reporters on China’s relations with India, Wang said, “China and India have maintained communication through the diplomatic and military-to-military channels, and both countries are committed to upholding stability in the border areas. We stand ready to work with India in the direction toward steady and sound growth of China-India relations.” This statement came in the backdrop of the 9 December faceoff between the Indian and Chinese soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang sector. 

Earlier, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a statement said that India and China held the 17th round of Corps Commander Level Meeting at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point on the Chinese side on 20 December and agreed to maintain the security and stability on the ground in the Western Sector. 

“In the interim, the two sides agreed to maintain the security and stability on the ground in the Western Sector,” according to the statement. 

The MEA statement said the two sides agreed to stay in close contact, and maintain dialogue through military and diplomatic channels and work out a mutually acceptable resolution of the remaining issues at the earliest.