Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to meet Indian counterpart S Jaishankar today

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will meet his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar today at 2:30 pm in the Muthamma Hall. The two are likely to discuss the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the Russia-Ukraine crisis during the course of this bilateral meeting. Ahead of the meeting Jaishankar greeting Yi at the Hyderabad House. 

The meeting comes amid the Russia-Ukraine war, that, notably, neither India nor China have condemned. Russia counts both China and India as friendly powers and has cultivated diplomatic and economic ties with the two countries ever since Cold War era.

In his maiden visit to India in almost two years, Wang Yi also met the National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval earlier in the day. Yi arrived in India from Kabul on Thursday evening. He will also visit Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh as part of a four-nation tour.

This is also the first visit to India by a senior Chinese leader ever since the eastern Ladakh standoff began between India and China in May 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong lake areas. In the last one-and-a-half years, Jaishankar and Yi have held several rounds of talks in Moscow and Dushanbe to defuse tensions in eastern Ladakh.

In September 2020, both sides held extensive talks in Moscow on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) conclave wherein they reached a 5-point agreement to resolve the eastern Ladakh border conflict.

The pact included quick disengagement of troops, avoiding action that was likely to escalate tensions, adherence to all agreements and protocols on border management and steps to restore peace along the LAC.

They also had a bilateral meet in the Tajik capital city Dushanbe in July 2021 and September 2021 with a focus on the border row. On March 11, India and China held the 15th round of high-level military dialogue to resolve the pending issues in the eastern Ladakh region.

India has been constantly maintaining peace and tranquility along the LAC is important to ensure overall development of bilateral ties.

As a result of the diplomatic and military talks, both sides completed disengagement from the LAC last year in the north and south banks of the Pangong lake in the Gogra area. Each side has 50,000-60,000 troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the sensitive area.

(With agency inputs)

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