Signaling Beijing’s willingness to improve relations with India, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, in talks with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, expressed support for India’s G20 presidency and underlined that “the boundary issue should be put in the proper place in bilateral relations.” In a bid to reset bilateral ties stressed by the three-year-old boundary stalemate in Ladakh, the visiting Chinese minister sought to delink the boundary from the rest of ties and promised resumption of flights to enhance people-to-people ties
China “supports the Indian side in fulfilling its chairmanship of the G-20 and is ready to strengthen communication and cooperation to safeguard the common interests of developing countries and international equity and justice, so as to inject stability and positive energy into the world,” said Mr Qin. The Chinese minister exhorted India to look at relations “in the context of once-in-a-century changes in the world” and to put the border issue “in the proper place”, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
The Chinese foreign minister said both sides “should view their bilateral relations in the context of the once-in-a-century changes in the world, understand bilateral cooperation from the perspective of their respective national rejuvenation, and be partners on the path to modernisation,” according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry in Beijing quoted him as saying. “As neighbouring countries and major emerging economies, China and India have far more common interests than differences,” he said. “The development and revitalisation of China and India display the strength of developing countries, which will change the future of one-third of the world’s population, the future of Asia and even the whole world. The two sides should implement the important consensus of the leaders of the two countries, maintain dialogue and properly resolve disputes, and promote the improvement of bilateral relations and the steady moving forward of the relations.”
Looking ahead, Mr Qin said that China was “willing to speed up the resumption of exchanges and cooperation with India in various fields, resume direct flights at the earliest date and facilitate people-to-people exchanges”. Flights have remained suspended since early 2020 and the start of the pandemic.
India is, however, treading cautiously and has made it clear again that the Chinese need to withdraw troops from all friction points in Ladakh. Dr Jaishankar described the state of relations with China as “abnormal” and reiterated India’s position that restoration of peace on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was required for a return to normalcy.
