 "External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi meet on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro. File Image: X | @DrSJaishankar.")
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday that while India and China have made ‘ good progress ’ over the past nine months towards improving relations and further efforts are needed to ease tensions along the border.
Signalling an improvement in ties after setbacks due to military clashes in Ladakh, Jaishankar emphasised that “differences should not become disputes ” and that “competition should never become conflict.”
This marks Jaishankar’s first visit to China since the military standoff began along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh in May 2020.
During his meeting with Wang Yi ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Tianjin on Tuesday, Jaishankar highlighted terrorism as a shared concern, saying India hopes the principle of “zero tolerance for terrorism” will be firmly upheld at the summit. He also stressed that “restrictive trade measures and roadblocks” should be avoided to ensure smoother economic ties.
“Our bilateral relationship requires that we take a far-seeing approach to our ties. 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,” Jaishankar said.
In a breakthrough during the period of strained ties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, in October last year, following the announcement of a new border patrolling arrangement on 21 October.
Since then, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval has visited China twice, and both Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri have also travelled to China for strategic talks.
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View All“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,” Jaishankar said.