China once again uses 'dragon-elephant dance' metaphor during meeting with Jaishankar

aishankar is visiting China to attend a conclave of the SEO summit.

During his meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Chinese Vice President Han Zheng used the metaphor of the “Dragon-Elephant Dance" hinting at deeper ties between the two nations.

Han described the 2023 meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kazan as a “pivotal moment” that helped restart and advance China-India ties. The Galwan Valley clash in June 2020 significantly increased tensions between the two Asian nations.

According to Han, as major developing nations and key members of the Global South, China and India must “choose to be partners that support each other’s success", noting that the “dragon-elephant dance" remains the right path forward.

He also urged both India and China to maintain high-level engagement, promote practical cooperation, and respect each other’s core concerns to ensure the sustained, healthy, and stable development of bilateral ties.

"Becoming partners that enable each other's success and achieving the "dragon-elephant tango" is the right choice for both sides. The two sides should further implement the important consensus reached by leaders of the two countries, steadily advance practical cooperation, respect each other's concerns, and promote the sustained, healthy, and stable development of China-India ties," Zheng said  Jaishankar in Beijing, according to a report by Global Times.

Jaishankar is visiting China to attend a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the Chinese city of Tianjin.

In April  this year, Chinese President Xi Jinping told his Indian counterpart Droupadi Murmu  that China and India's relationship should take the form of a "Dragon-Elephant tango," a dance between their emblematic animals. Xi and Murmu were exchanging congratulatory messages  marking the 75th anniversary of bilateral relations.

It is Jaishankar's first visit to China after the 2020 military standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh. "Our bilateral relationship, as you have pointed, has been steadily improving since the meeting between Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and President Xi Jinping in Kazan last October," Jaishankar said in his televised opening remarks in the meeting.

In the last few months, India and China have initiated a number of measures to repair the bilateral ties that had severely nosedived following the deadly clashes between the two militaries in June 2020.

Jaishankar's visit is taking place less than three weeks after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh travelled to the Chinese port city of Qingdao to participate in the SCO defence ministers' conference.