|HT|
Bilateral relations have shown a “momentum of recovery” as India and China have effectively “managed and controlled” differences since March this year, Chinese state councillor and foreign minister Wang Yi told external affairs minister S Jaishankar on Thursday. Wang said the two countries should “push for the early return of the bilateral relations to the right track and light up the bright future of the relations together”. While, according to a Chinese readout of the meeting, Wang spoke about a “momentum of recovery” in the ties, the statement made no mention of disengagement of troops from the disputed areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh to resolve the ongoing border tension –– a primary requirement, according to New Delhi, for the return of normalcy or recovery in ties.
Wang and Jaishankar held an hour-long meeting on the margins of a G20 foreign ministers’ meeting being hosted in Bali by Indonesia, the current president of the grouping of the world’s 20 largest economies. The meeting was held in the backdrop of the dragging military standoff, which has plunged bilateral ties to an all-time low since the ongoing round of tensions began in May 2020.
The two sides have been unable to withdraw frontline troops from all friction points despite numerous rounds of diplomatic and military talks.
As it turned out, there was no direct mention of the ongoing border trouble in the readout, released by the official news agency Xinhua late on Thursday night.
“Since March this year, China and India have maintained communication and exchanges, effectively managed differences, and the bilateral relations have generally shown a momentum of recovery,” the readout quoted Wang as telling Jaishankar.
Wang said the two countries should take practical actions to implement the important consensus of the leaders of the two countries that “the two countries are not each other’s threats, but cooperation partners and development opportunities.” Both countries share common interests and similar legitimate claims, Wang said.
(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)