Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar met on the sidelines of the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Manila this week. The Hindu reports that Jaishankar told Wang Yi, “We believe that a stable and cooperative relationship can best be developed on the basis of mutual respect, mutual interest and mutual sensitivity. Such a relationship can make a valuable contribution to a multi-polar Asia and a multi-polar world,” highlighting that “peace and tranquility in the border areas is obviously the pre-requisite for normal ties.”
The Hindu notes that the comments came against the backdrop of renewed India-China engagement, including the resumption of direct flights, updates to the visa regime, the restart of the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra (a religious and spiritual pilgrimage to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar in Tibet), and the resumption of border trade. In this context, Mr. Jaishankar said, “the steps in normalisation taken over the last few months must be welcomed.” Jaishankar referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping’s meeting in Kazan in October 2024 and recalled that the two leaders had “agreed that differences should not become disputes…. It is the duty of diplomacy to properly manage them.”
Wang Yi, Global Times reported, called on the two sides to strengthen coordination and cooperation, promote the growth of the greater BRICS cooperation mechanism, and better represent and safeguard the common interests of developing countries.
