Jaishankar meets China FM Wang; focus on border issues, Kailash Mansarovar & direct flights

Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar on Friday met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in South Africa’s Johannesburg.

The two foreign ministers met on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting.

In a post on X, Jaishankar said, “The G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Johannesburg provided an opportunity to meet CPC Politburo member and FM Wang Yi of China this morning on its sidelines.”

Separately, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the the management of peace and tranquillity in border areas, Kailash Mansarovar yatra, flight connectivity, and travel facilities were the subjects of their discussions.

Earlier on Thursday, Jaishankar had met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Johannesburg.

Jaishankar is in Johannesburg on a two-day visit to for G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.

The Jaishankar-Wang meeting comes at a time when both the countries are engaged in building a working relationship that collapsed because of Chinese aggression at the border in 2020 that triggered a military standoff that has not yet been completely resolved. Late last year, India and China reached an understanding to partially resolve the standoff in Ladakh that made way for the two countries to improve the broader bilateral relationship that had fallen to the lowest level since 1962 when China invaded India and India incurred a humiliating defeat in the war.

At the G20 event, notable for the absence of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Jaishankar on Thursday addressed a session titled

The meeting comes amid ongoing diplomatic efforts between India and China to address bilateral issues and regional challenges ‘Discussion on the Global Geopolitical Situation’ and said, “The global geopolitical situation remains difficult by any definition. Some of it is the accumulated challenges of the Covid pandemic, conflict situations, financial pressures, food security and climate concerns.”