Vikram Misri in Beijing for bilateral talks, eyes on resumption of direct India-China flights

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri arrived in China’s Beijing on Sunday for bilateral talks with senior Chinese officials.

The talks are understood to be aimed to advancing the India-China relations following the understanding that the two countries reached regarding the stand-off in Ladakh last year. He met Liu Jianchao, the head of the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) Central Committee’s international affairs department on Sunday and is scheduled to meet Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong on Monday.

In a brief statement last week, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said that Misri would visit China on January 26-27 and hold meetings under the Foreign Secretary-Vice Minister framework. It further said that the discussions would be part to reach the “next steps for India-China relations, including in the political, economic, and people-to-people domains”.

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In the meeting with Misri, “the two sides exchanged views on jointly implementing the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, strengthening exchanges and dialogues, and promoting the improvement and healthy and stable development of China-India relations, as well as international and regional issues of common concern”, reported China’s state-run Global Times newspaper.

The Indian Express has reported that one of the key objectives of the meeting is to reach an understanding to resume direct flights between the two countries.

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As part of the improvement of the bilateral times, China has sought the easing of visa curbs on Chinese nationals, including diplomats and scholars; the lifting of the ban on Chinese apps; permission of Chinese journalists to work in India; and allowing more Indian films to release in China, according to The Express.

Direct flights between India and China were suspended in 2020 following Chinese incursions and attacks in Ladakh that triggered a military standoff that has still not been completely resolved. The Chinese actions, including the attacks at Galwan Valley in June 2020 that killed 20 Indian soldiers, plunged the India-China relationship to its lowest since 1962 when the two countries fought a war. India responded to the Chinese aggression at the border with economic disengagement and crackdown on Chinese firms, apps, and investments in India.

Following the India-China understanding reached last year, this is the third round of senior-level talks between the two sides.

Earlier on November 18, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Brazil. Then, on November 20, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun met in Laos on the sidelines of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus. In that meeting, Rajath had said “we need to focus on cooperation rather than conflict” and “emphasised and looked forward to greater trust and confidence building between the two sides through de-escalation”.

Even though India and China have reached an understanding on some aspects of the Ladakh stand-off, complete disengagement and withdrawal of troops is yet to take place.

As per the agreement, Indian patrolling was reinstated in Demchok and Depsang in eastern Ladakh and China’s patrolling was reinstated in India-controlled Yangtse in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang. However, patrolling remains halted in regions that witnessed disengagement in 2022: Pangong Tso, Galwan Valley, Patrolling Points 15 and 17A in Gogra Hot Springs area. The buffer zones created in these areas continue to remain in place. Moreover, as many as 50-60,000 troops along with war-waging equipment continue to be deployed in the region and no withdrawal has yet taken place.