Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived on a two-day visit to India today for talks about their shared boundary, as the two countries consider resuming border trade after a five-year halt. He was received at the Delhi airport by Gourangalal Das, the Joint Secretary of the East Asia division of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
The visit is seen as part of ongoing efforts to restore trust between India and China, which came under strain following the deadly Galwan Valley clashes in 2020.
Wang is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi tomorrow. The meeting assumes significance as it is taking place days before Modi's planned trip to China to attend the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
Before calling on the prime minister, Wang will hold separate talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval that could see both sides deliberate on a range of key issues including border situation, trade and resumption of flight services.
Wang's trip is also seen as important as it comes amid increasing tensions in India-US relations following President Donald Trump doubling tariffs on Indian goods to 50 per cent that included an additional penalty of 25 per cent for purchasing Russian crude oil.
According to details released by the MEA, the Chinese foreign minister will land in New Delhi at around 4:15 pm on Monday. He will meet Jaishankar for bilateral talks at around 6 pm.
Wang and NSA Doval are scheduled to hold a new edition of Special Representatives (SR) dialogue on the boundary question at 11 am on Tuesday.
According to the MEA, Wang will call on PM Modi at his 7 Lok Kalyan Marg residence at 5:30 pm on Tuesday.
The Chinese foreign minister will be in India primarily to hold the 24th round of SR dialogue with NSA Doval.
Wang and Doval are the designated special representatives for the boundary talks.
Both sides are expected to deliberate on new confidence-building measures besides reviewing the overall situation along the Line of Actual Control, the people cited above said.
Though the two sides disengaged troops from the friction points, they are yet to de-escalate the situation by pulling back the frontline forces from the border.
Each side currently has around 50,000 to 60,000 troops along the LAC in the eastern Ladakh region.
The Chinese foreign minister will also meet External Affairs Minister Jaishankar.
It is learnt that the two sides will also use the opportunity to lay the ground for Prime Minister Modi's visit to China to attend the annual summit of the SCO to be held on August 31 and September 1.
As per the plan, the prime minister will embark on a visit to Japan around August 29 and after concluding the trip, he will travel to the northern Chinese city of Tianjin for the SCO summit.
Modi's visit to China is being planned amid efforts by the two sides to repair their bilateral ties which came under severe strain following the deadly clashes between Indian and Chinese troops in Galwan Valley in June 2020.
NSA Doval travelled to China in December last and held the SR talks with Wang, weeks after Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping decided to revive various dialogue mechanisms between the two sides at a meeting in the Russian city of Kazan.
The military standoff in eastern Ladakh began in May 2020 and the clashes at the Galwan Valley in June that year resulted in a severe strain in bilateral ties.
The face-off effectively ended following completion of the disengagement process from the last two friction points of Demchok and Depsang under an agreement finalised on October 21 last year.
The decision to revive various dialogue mechanisms was taken at a meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi in Kazan on October 23, 2024.
The Modi-Xi meeting came two days after India and China firmed up a disengagement pact for Depsang and Demchok.
The two sides also initiated a number of initiatives to rebuild the ties that included resumption of Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and New Delhi restarting issuance of tourist visas to Chinese nationals.
Both sides are also discussing modalities to resume direct flight services between the two countries. The flight services between the two sides were suspended following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. It was not restored in view of the border row.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister Jaishankar visited China in the last two months to attend SCO meetings. China is the current chair of the SCO.
(With PTI inputs)
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