New Delhi:
In what could be the first visit by a senior Chinese leader since the violent clash at the Line Of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi may visit India later this month. He will probably be in Nepal for his visit to India. India and China have continued military-level talks to resolve the situation in Ladakh, but without much success.
The border crossing in eastern Ladakh broke out on May 5, 2020, after a violent clash in the Pangong Lake area. The confrontation escalated after the clashes in the Galwan Valley on June 15, 2020, in which at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed. One report had claimed that 42, not four, Chinese soldiers were killed in the clashes.
Earlier this month, Minister Wang Yi had said that China and India have experienced “some setbacks” in bilateral relations in recent years, and called for their differences on the border issue to be managed through consultations on an equal footing for a “fair and fair” arrangement. He also said some forces have always tried to fuel tensions between China and India, in a clear reference to the US.
“Relations between China and India have faced some setbacks in recent years that do not serve the fundamental interests of the two countries and the two peoples,” he had said in response to a question about the border issue and the ties between the two. neighbors.
India’s relations with China are currently going through a “very difficult phase” after Beijing breached its border agreements, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said at this year’s Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Germany. He also stressed that the “state of the border will determine the state of the relationship”.
Mr Jaishankar had claimed last month that India is in talks with China over the border issue with Ladakh, with absolute clarity that it will not agree to any change in the status quo or any attempt to unilaterally change the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the region.
“It is absolutely clear that we will not agree to any change in the status quo. Any attempt to unilaterally change the LAC on one side. So no matter how complex it is, however long it takes, no matter how difficult it is, I think clarity is what guides us,” he had said while interacting at a think tank in Paris.
Minister Wang Yi, who is also a councilor of state, had said that China and India “should be partners rather than rivals”.