Aug. 20—Official reports from both India and China on Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s Aug. 18-20 visit to New Delhi, India, concur that relations between the world’s two most populous nations are heading back to much-needed normalcy in this time of “global turbulence.” The leaders of the two nations are now set to meet on the sidelines of the Aug. 31-Sept. 1 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin, China.
“Stable, predictable, constructive ties between India and China will contribute significantly to regional as well as global peace and prosperity,” India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on his X account after meeting Aug. 19 with Wang Yi. “Since my meeting with President Xi in Kazan, [Russia, at the BRICS summit] last year, India-China relations have made steady progress, guided by respect for each other’s interests and sensitivities. I look forward to our next meeting in Tianjin on the sidelines of the SCO Summit.”
Before meeting Modi, Wang met with his Indian counterpart, Foreign Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar, and separately with Indian National Security chief Ajit Doval, in the larger-format meeting of the 24th Round of the Special Representatives’ Dialogue on the Boundary Question. Armed conflict in one area of their long border in 2020 had thrown bilateral relations into the freezer. It has taken careful military and diplomatic work over time to rebuild trust, such that in this 24th round, agreements were reached to both establish several working groups with more ambitious mandates to deal with border issues, and, importantly, to “take a political perspective of the overall bilateral relationship,” India’s External Affairs Ministry reported in a concluding document on Wang Yi’s visit.
In their talks, Jaishankar and Wang each raised particular knotty issues between the two countries (India, its concerns on terrorism and coordinating river management related to a huge dam China is constructing on a common river; China, the question of Taiwan), but dealt with them in the context of their “positive, constructive and forward-looking discussions on bilateral, regional and international issues of common interest.” The concluding document named some ten general “understandings and outcomes/practical steps” they agreed on to promote “people-centric and economic engagement” between their two peoples.
“As two major neighboring and developing countries, China and India share similar views and broad common interests,” and should trust and support each other, Wang Yi emphasized in the meeting with Doval, Xinhua reported.
Doval agreed that in the current turbulent international situation, “India and China face a series of common challenges, and it is necessary to enhance understanding, deepen trust, and strengthen cooperation, as this concerns the well-being of the people of both countries and the peace and development of the world,” according to Xinhua.
To Jaishankar, Wang proposed that by regarding each other as partners and opportunities rather than rivals or threats, they would set an example for other developing nations. “The revitalization of the two great Eastern civilizations should reinforce and complement one another, providing much-needed certainty and stability for Asia and the wider world.”
Jaishankar summarized the net result of the meetings: “Confident that our discussions today would contribute to building a stable, cooperative and forward-looking relationship between India and China.”