External affairs minister S Jaishankar used a bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang on Thursday to reiterate India’s position that the normalisation of bilateral ties is linked to resolving outstanding issues on the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The two leaders met for more than an hour at a resort in this seaside village, ahead of a meeting of foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Friday. People familiar with the matter said Jaishankar used the meeting to push India’s stance for the early resolution of the military standoff in the Ladakh sector of the LAC, which has entered its fourth year.
There was no official readout on the meeting from the Indian and Chinese sides, and Jaishankar summed up the discussions in a brief tweet. This was the second meeting this year between Jaishankar and Qin, who last met when the Chinese minister travelled to India in March to attend a G20 foreign ministers’ meeting.
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“A detailed discussion with State Councillor and FM Qin Gang of China on our bilateral relationship. Focus remains on resolving outstanding issues and ensuring peace and tranquillity in the border areas,” Jaishankar wrote on Twitter. “Also discussed SCO, G20 and BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa),” he added.
The Indian side recently rejected China’s persistent efforts to push a narrative that the situation in the Ladakh sector is stable and moving towards “normalised management”. One of the people cited above said this was largely the position taken by India at Thursday’s meeting.
After his last meeting with Qin on March 2, Jaishankar had said bilateral ties are “abnormal” and the two sides need to address “real problems”. More recently, Jaishankar described the situation on the LAC as “very fragile” since there are points where Indian and Chinese troop deployments are “quite dangerous”.
This was in marked contrast to the position taken by Chinese leaders such as defence minister Gen Li Shangfu, who visited India last month for an SCO meeting and told his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh that the border is “generally stable” and the two countries should “place the border issue in an appropriate position” and “promote the transition of the border situation to normalised management”.
The standoff on the LAC and a brutal clash at Galwan Valley in June 2020 that killed 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese troops have taken bilateral relations to their lowest point in six decades.
Jaishankar also held a bilateral meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, during which they reviewed various aspects of cooperation between India and Russia.
“Comprehensive review of our bilateral, global and multilateral cooperation with FM Sergey Lavrov of Russia. Appreciated Russia’s support for India’s SCO presidency. Also discussed issues pertaining to G20 and BRICS,” Jaishankar wrote on Twitter after the meeting which lasted more than an hour.
A readout from the Russian embassy said Lavrov and Jaishankar had a “trust-based exchange of views” on the main issues of bilateral ties, including the schedule of upcoming contacts, and topical issues on the global and regional agenda.
The ministers “praised the dynamics of cooperation in key areas of the special and privileged strategic partnership” between the two sides, and reiterated their intention to strengthen coordination and develop common approaches at international forums such as SCO, Brics, UN and G20.
The two sides further agreed to continue work on “building a fair multipolar system of interstate relations”, the readout said.
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Jaishankar also held a bilateral meeting with Uzbekistan’s foreign minister Bakhtiyor Saidov. “Appreciated Uzbekistan’s strong support for India’s SCO presidency. Also recognized our long-standing multilateral cooperation. Confident our bilateral partnership in different domains will continue to grow,” he said in a tweet.
Jaishankar began his bilateral engagements on Thursday with an interaction with SCO secretary general Zhang Ming. “Appreciate his support for India’s SCO Presidency. Indian presidency is driven by a commitment to SECURE SCO. Its key focus areas are startups, traditional medicine, youth empowerment, Buddhist heritage and science & technology,” Jaishankar tweeted after the meeting.
On Thursday evening, Jaishankar hosted the SCO foreign ministers for a cultural event and dinner at Taj Exotica Resort, which is also the venue for Friday’s meeting.