PM Modi Meets China’s Top Diplomat as India, China Rebuild Ties

PM Modi Meets China’s Top Diplomat: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed “steady progress” in improving relations with China after meeting its top diplomat Tuesday following a yearslong standoff between the nuclear-armed Asian powers.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said “respect for each other’s interests and sensitiveness” after meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. China’s foreign ministry said the two countries have entered a “steady development track” and should “trust and support” each other.

Wang also met Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and national security adviser Ajit Doval to discuss the border in the Himalayas. India’s foreign ministry said Wang and Doval talked about “deescalation, delimitation and boundary affairs”.

The two sides agreed to resume direct flights and issuance of journalist visas and to facilitate business and cultural exchanges, said China’s foreign ministry. Relations plummeted in 2020 after security forces clashed along the border. Four Chinese soldiers and 20 Indian soldiers were killed in the worst violence in decades, freezing high-level political engagements.

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“The setbacks we experienced in the past few years were not in the interest of the people of our two countries. We are heartened to see the stability that is now restored in the borders,” Wang said Monday.

Modi stressed the need to maintain peace and tranquillity on the border and reiterated India’s commitment to a “fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable resolution of the boundary question,” his office said in a statement.

India-China ties are rebuilding as New Delhi and Washington are at loggerheads after US President Donald Trump imposed steep tariffs on India, a long-time ally seen as a counterbalance to China’s influence in Asia. India is part of the Quad security alliance with the US, along with Australia and Japan.

India and China’s border dispute has been festering for decades. It worsened in 2020 after a deadly clash between their troops in the Ladakh region. The chill in relations affected trade, diplomacy and air travel as both sides deployed tens of thousands of security forces along the border.

Some progress has been made since then.

Last year, India and China agreed to a pact on border patrols and withdrew additional forces from some border areas. Both sides are building roads and rail networks along the border.

In recent months, the two countries have been having official visits and discussing easing some trade restrictions, movement of citizens and visas for businesspeople. In June, Beijing allowed pilgrims from India to visit holy sites in Tibet. Both sides are working to restore direct flights.

Last week, the spokesperson for India’s foreign ministry, Randhir Jaiswal, said India and China are talking to restart trade through three points along their 3,488-kilometer (2,167-mile) border.

They will work towards a consensus on border issues, Wang said after meeting Doval, China’s foreign ministry said.

No specifics were given on what was decided.

“Settling the boundary issue between the two countries requires political compromise at the highest political level,” said Manoj Joshi, a fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi-based think tank. He was also a member of the advisory board for India’s National Security Council.

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The Beijing-New Delhi thaw began last October when Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met at the BRICS summit in Russia. It was the first time the two leaders had met in person since 2019.

Modi is set to meet Xi later this month when he travels to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit — his first visit in seven years.

Earlier this year Xi had called for India and China to be a “dragon-elephant tango” — a dance between the two countries’ emblems.

The renewed engagement comes as New Delhi’s ties with Trump are fraying. Washington has imposed 50% tariff on Indian goods, including 25% on Russian crude oil. The tariffs kick in from Aug 27.

India has not backed down, instead signed more agreements with Russia to deepen economic ties.

Trump’s renewed engagement with India’s arch rival Pakistan has also encouraged New Delhi to reach out to China, said Lt Gen D.S. Hooda who led the Indian military’s Northern Command from 2014 to 2016.

In June Trump hosted Pakistan’s army chief for a White House lunch and later announced an energy deal with Islamabad to develop Pakistan’s oil reserves. Both followed Trump’s claims of brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after the two sides exchanged blows in May.

That clash saw Pakistan use Chinese made fighter jets and missiles against India.

“China is heavily invested in Pakistan and, practically speaking, you can’t have any expectation that Beijing will hold back support to Islamabad,” Hooda said. “But you can’t have two hostile neighbors on your borders and simultaneously deal with them also.”

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