Gourangalal Das, Joint Secretary (East Asia) held a meeting with Liu Jinsong, Director General of the Department of Asian Affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing on March 26.
The officials of the two nations discussed resumption of dialogue in a step-by-step manner to utilise them to address each other's priority areas of interest and concern and move ties "on to a more stable and predictable path," according to Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) statement. India and China have made further progress on the modalities to resume the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra in 2025.
In a press release, the MEA said, "In today's meeting, the two sides reviewed the action taken by them to implement the strategic direction as also the specific steps agreed in the meeting between Foreign Secretary and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister in January 2025 to stabilise and rebuild ties."
The two nations agreed to continue efforts to further facilitate and promote people-to-people exchanges, including arrangements for the resumption of direct flights, interaction between media and think tanks, and the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties.
In a press release, the MEA stated, "The two sides took stock of the planned exchanges and activities this year. They discussed resumption of dialogue mechanisms in a step-by-step manner to utilize them to address each other's priority areas of interest and concern and move relations on to a more stable and predictable path."
The two sides took positive note of the developments in bilateral relations since the meeting of the leaders of India and China in October 2024. In the intervening period, the Foreign Ministers of the two nations have met twice, while the Special Representatives on the India-China boundary question held their 23rd meeting. These high-level meetings have provided strategic guidance to stabilise and further develop relations.
Earlier on Tuesday, the 33rd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) was held in Beijing.
During the meeting, the officials of the two nations reviewed the situation along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas and agreed on the early resumption of cross-border cooperation and exchanges, including on trans-border rivers and Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) press release, both nations explored various measures and proposals to implement the decisions taken during the meeting of the Special Representatives on the India-China boundary question in Beijing in December 2024 and advance effective border management. The two sides agreed to maintain and strengthen diplomatic and military mechanisms.
According to the MEA statement, Gourangalal Das, Joint Secretary (East Asia), led the Indian delegation to the meeting, and Hong Liang, Director General of the Boundary and Oceanic Affairs Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, led the Chinese delegation.
India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar earlier on Wednesday said that the ties between India and China have seen some improvement since October last year and noted that the two nations are working on different aspects of it.
In conversation with Kyung-wha Kang of Asia Society on Wednesday, Jaishankar said that India and China are trying to undo some of the damage that happened due to the actions in 2020 and rebuild bilateral ties.
When asked how he sees India-China bilateral relations unfolding under this low geopolitical context of churn, he said, "We had a war with China in '62. It took us 14 years after that to send back an ambassador. It took us 12 more years for a Prime Minister of India to visit that country and from 1988, there was a certain understanding between India and China on the basis of which the relationship was rebuilt. We didn't obviously couldn't solve the problems in most of all the boundary issue, but we built a relationship, we managed it."
"There were dialogues and negotiations going on while other parts of the relationship grew, the economic relationship grew, there were more exchanges, people went up, you know, the rest, and even, on the boundary, in fact, we had a series of agreements, which laid out in great detailed protocols on how to manage the boundary, how to deploy, how to ensure that something accidental doesn't happen all the while, you know, negotiations were going on to find a solution to the boundary issue. Now from then, let us, if we use 1988 as a starting point till 2020. While we had incidents along in the boundary in the border areas. We had not actually had bloodshed. The last bloodshed was 45 years before 2020."
He recalled the border standoff between India and China in 2020, which involved a military response on India's side. The border standoff between India and China began in eastern Ladakh along the LAC in 2020, sparked by Chinese military actions. This incident sparked a prolonged rise in tensions between the two nations, significantly straining their relations.
Recalling the border standoff between the two nations, Jaishankar said, "So, what happened in 2020 was actually very traumatic for the relationship. It wasn't just the bloodshed. It was the disregard of written agreements because this isn't the grey area we are talking about. I mean, the departure from the terms of what was agreed to was very sharp and very substantial. Now through this period, I mean, obviously it took us, I mean we're still dealing with some parts of this. So, it's not like the issue has completely gone away We felt that, obviously it called for a military response on India's side which happened, there was a counter deployment by us. But, we also felt that the way forward was to find a negotiated outcome, and that's what we've been trying to do since 2020. Now, the answer to your question is we don't think this period serves the interests of either India or China."
"How do we benefit by having a very tense relationship with that a large number of troops out there that, very hostile environment and all the collateral damage which it has done to the relationship because obviously if peace and tranquillity in the border areas were disturbed then you know the rest of the relationship can't go on as normal. So, we, I mean in terms of I would say principles or concepts, we basically made two points which is differences should not become disputes and that competition should not become conflict. We can differ on many issues. We do compete on many issues, but because we compete doesn't mean that there should be a conflict between us. We are very realistic about it," he added.
He said that the two nations will have issues in the foreseeable future. However, there are ways of addressing those issues and what happened in 2020 was not the way to address those issues.
"We know, between India and China, there will at least in the foreseeable future, there will be issues, but there are ways of addressing those issues and what happened in 2020 was not the way to address those issues. So, right now, we feel that from October of last year, the relationship has seen some improvement. We are working on different aspects of it. I've met my counterpart a few times, so have my other senior colleagues, and what we are trying step by step is to see is to see we can rebuild, undo some of the damage which happened as a result of their actions in 2020 and we can rebuild the relationship and we genuinely sincerely think that this is in our mutual interest that if one looks at that 2020 to 2025, I think it was a period which did not serve them well and it did not serve us well," he said.
(ANI)