Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar with Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi during a meeting on the sidelines of ASEAN meetings, in Vientiane, on July 25, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

For the second time this month, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, with the two leaders highlighting the need to resolve the four-year-old military stand-off at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with “purpose and urgency”.

The meeting was among the first few bilateral meetings the External Affairs Minister had after landing in Vientiane, Laos for a number of ASEAN-related meetings (July 25-27), and comes three weeks after the two Ministers held talks on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Kazakhstan, in a signal that New Delhi and Beijing are fast-tracking their efforts to resolve the LAC issue.

“Their talks focused on finding an early resolution of the remaining issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to stabilise and rebuild bilateral relations,” the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

Stressing the “exceptional significance” of India and China as the “two most populous nations and among the two key economies of the world”, Mr. Jaishankar said stable bilateral ties were necessary between them.

“Our ability to ensure that they are stable and forward-looking is essential both for the prospects of Asia and that of the multipolar world. There are also issues on which our interests converge,” Mr. Jaishankar told Mr. Wang in preliminary comments before their talks.

Both sides decided that an “early meeting” of the Working Mechanism on Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) that includes External Affairs Ministry, border, and military officials would take discussions forward, the External Affairs Ministry said in its statement.

The two Ministers met for the fourth time in the past 12 months, and have been making a concerted push for complete disengagement of troops.

‘Respect the LAC’

While the two sides had earlier achieved disengagement on several flashpoints from 2020-2022, several rounds of WMCC and border commander talks have yielded no further breakthrough, which hinges on the PLA withdrawing from positions at the Demchok and Depsang sectors. In March, the WMCC grouping held its 29th meeting in Beijing.

Mr. Jaishankar said he hoped the meeting on Thursday would allow them to “give stronger guidance” to officials to complete the disengagement process which had “cast a shadow” over India-China ties.

He also said that both sides must ensure respect for the LAC and for past agreements, indicating that agreements from the 1990s on managing the boundaries are still relevant for India in resolving the military stand-off that began in April 2020, when the Chinese PLA transgressed along the LAC, leading to deadly clashes in Galwan.

The talks came amid speculation that the government is considering relaxing some of its economic restrictions on Chinese companies, fuelled by the Economic Survey released before the Budget this week that specifically favoured encouraging more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from China.

On Thursday, the Chinese Embassy in Delhi also posted a video on its social media handles calling for India to take steps towards easing economic and business ties, citing falling FDI numbers, tourist footfall, as well as the lack of direct flights between the two countries.