India’s National Security Advisor Shri Ajit Doval (who also wears the hat of India’s Special Representative on the China-India boundary question), and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a bilateral meeting in Beijing, on the sidelines of the 20th Meeting of the heads of the Security Councils of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). This was the latest in the series of bilateral meetings held between officials since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping agreed, when they met on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan last October, to move forward toward restoring relations that had been on ice since a 2020 border conflict. The Indian and Chinese readouts on the Doval-Wang meeting concurred that the process of restoring normal relations between the two Asian giants continues to make progress.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs reported that the two ministers had “reviewed recent developments in India-China bilateral relations and underscored the need to promote the overall development of the India-China bilateral relations, including by fostering greater people to people ties.” Not surprisingly, “other bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest” were discussed.
Xinhua reported, for its part, that Wang spoke of the importance of consensus reached by the heads of state, that China and India are “opportunities for each other’s development and pose no threat to each other … partners, rather than rivals.” He spoke of the need for both to “strive for a mutually beneficial and win-win prospect,” using “the historical wisdom of the two ancient civilizations” to properly handle sensitive issues.
According to Xinhua, Doval had said that “the strategic goals of India and China are aligned, with development being both nations’ top priority,” and that he “believes that the two major Asian countries can make greater contributions to the international community.” (Doval’s statements are quoted, but as summarized by Xinhua.)
The MEA reported that Doval also emphasized to Wang “the need to counter terrorism in all its forms and manifestations to maintain overall peace and stability in the region.” This is a point that India regularly emphasizes, and refers to China’s unwillingness to characterize the Pakistani-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which carried out the April 22 terrorist attack in Kashmir, as an international terror group. This remains as a significant bone of contention in bilateral India-China relations.
