S Jaishankar Meets Chinese Counterpart, Calls For Stronger Regional Ties

Foreign Minister S Jaishankar held bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing on Monday as both neighbours seek to normalise relations. The Indian leader is in the Chinese capital on a three-day trip to take part in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Foreign Ministers' Meeting on July 14 and 15. This is his first visit to China since the Galwan Valley face-off in 2020 complicated bilateral ties.

Jaishankar's talks with his Chinese counterpart were focused on taking forward the process of normalising ties after a four-year Line of Actual Control (LAC) standoff. The two sides reached an understanding on ending the face-off last October. Since then, Indian and Chinese leaders have met margins of multilateral events several times.

"Since our leaders' meeting in Kazan in October 2024, the India-China relationship has been gradually moving in a positive direction. Our responsibility is to maintain that momentum. In recent times, the two of us have had several opportunities to meet at international events and carry out strategic communication. It is our expectation that this will now be regular and take place in each other's countries," he said. 

He noted that both nations have made good progress in the past nine months in the normalisation of our bilateral relations. 

"It is a result of the resolution of friction along the border and our ability to maintain peace and tranquillity there. This is the fundamental basis for mutual strategic trust and for the smooth development of bilateral relations. It is now incumbent on us to address other aspects related to the border, including de-escalation," Jaishankar said. 

As neighbouring nations and major economies in the world today, India and China have various facets and dimensions to their ties. Jaishankar suggested that measures towards normalising the people-to-people exchanges can foster mutually beneficial cooperation. 

"It is also essential in this context that restrictive trade measures and roadblocks are avoided. I hope to discuss these issues in further detail. Stable and constructive ties between India and China are not only to our benefit, but that of the world as well. This is best done by handling relations on the basis of mutual respect, mutual interest and mutual sensitivity," he said.

"We have also earlier agreed that differences should not become disputes, nor should competition ever become conflict. On this foundation, we can now continue to develop our ties along a positive trajectory," the Minister added. 

Jaishankar also noted that terrorism, separatism and extremism are India and China's shared concerns, and noted that India hopes that zero tolerance for terrorism will be strongly upheld during the SEO summit tomorrow. 

Earlier in the day, Jaishankar met Chinese Vice President Han Zheng after landing in Beijing. The two leaders discussed ways to strengthen ties. The Chinese Vice President expressed readiness to work with New Delhi to achieve "dragon-elephant tango"-- a dance between their emblematic animals-- and noted both China and India are major developing economies and important members of the Global South. He also said both nations need to advance practical cooperation and respect mutual concerns to ensure the stable development of bilateral ties.

Jaishankar, meanwhile, conveyed to Chinese leadership that continued normalisation of India-China ties can produce mutually beneficial outcomes, and an open exchange of views between the two sides is "very important" considering the "complex" global scenario.

"Our bilateral relationship, as you have pointed out, has been steadily improving since the meeting between Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and President Xi Jinping in Kazan last October...I am confident that my discussions in this visit will maintain that positive trajectory," he said in his televised opening remarks at the meeting.

The Foreign Minister also thanked China for the resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.