The meeting between Foreign Ministers Qin Gang of China and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar of India on May 4 on the sidelines of the SCO meeting in Goa, India marked an important improvement in relations between the Asian giants. South China Morning Post reported that Qin “called on both countries to ‘learn from history’ and ‘respect each other’ to deepen cooperation for the ‘healthy and stable’ development of their relations, according to a statement from China, offering to help `push China-India relations back to a healthy and stable development track.’”
The Foreign Ministers of the two countries met at the G20 summit in March in India, in the middle of severe border tensions, where Jaishankar described India-China relations as “abnormal.” Both men this week described the border conflict as stable.
Qin was quoted in Global Times: “Upholding the belief of respecting and learning from each other and achieving mutual success, China and India should embark on a new path of harmonious coexistence, peaceful development, and common revitalization among neighboring major countries. Then they can provide assistance for the rejuvenation of both countries and inject stability and positive energy into world peace and development.”
