Jaishankar meets Chinese counterpart Qin Gang, focuses on resolving core challenges in bilateral ties

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New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday held bilateral talks with the newly appointed Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang in New Delhi focussing on the ongoing disengagement process in friction areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

This is the first bilateral meeting between the foreign ministers of India and China being held in the national capital post the Covid-19 pandemic and more significantly in the backdrop of the ongoing friction in Eastern Ladakh, which began in May 2020 as well as the recent clashes between Indian and Chinese troops in Tawang in the eastern sector of the Line of Actual Control in December 2022.

The discussions took place on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister arriving in New Delhi after midnight on Wednesday to attend the G20 FM summit.

“Met Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on sidelines of #G20FMM this afternoon. Our discussions were focused on addressing current challenges to the bilateral relationship, especially peace and tranquillity in the border areas. We also spoke about the G20 agenda,” Jaishankar tweeted after the meeting.

Given the icy relationship currently between the two neighbouring countries, the meeting assumes importance since it comes nearly eight months after the External Affairs minister held a similar meeting with Gang’s predecessor Wang Yi on the sidelines of another G20 meet held in Bali. Then too, the Indian side had conveyed to their Chinese counterparts the need to speedily resolve the outstanding issues in Eastern Ladakh and withdraw troops from border areas and promote peace.

The standoff in Eastern Ladakh has now entered its 34th month, and at least two friction points in Demchok and Depsang remain to be resolved. The disengagement of troops in all friction points would lead to a de-escalation of troops in the Western sector of the LAC, the de facto border between India and China.

Jaishankar has already participated in approximately 39 bilateral meetings with visiting foreign ministers, since yesterday, but the meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister is one of the most important in the backdrop of the strained relationship between the two neighbours.

Earlier last month, on 22 February, India and China also held in-person diplomatic talks in Beijing and discussed various proposals to complete disengagement in the remaining friction points along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh. The meeting took place under the framework of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China border Affairs (WMCC) and discussed the way forward in “an open and constructive manner”.

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Sohini Sarkar

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