Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday expressed optimism about the recent stabilisation in India-China relations and the relative calm along the border areas. He highlighted that Beijing places “great importance” on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s forthcoming trip to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit.
In the recent round of Special Representatives (SR) talks on the issue of boundaries, which took place at Hyderabad House in New Delhi with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Wang Yi emphasized that the tensions in bilateral relations experienced over the past few years had been "not in the interest of the people of both countries."
I am greatly happy to meet you once again in New Delhi for this round of meetings between the special representatives of India and China on the boundary issue. The failures in the last two or three years were not in the interest of the people of our two nations. And then last year in October, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Modi had a significant meeting in Kazan.". That sit-down set the path for the improvement of our bilateral relationship and lent momentum to the proper resolution of the boundary issue," he stated in his opening remarks, presented in Mandarin and translated into English.
Looking back on the strides made in the previous round of SR-level talks, Wang Yi indicated that China drew encouragement from the result.
We enjoyed a very good 23rd round towards the tail-end of last year. We achieved a new and significant consensus regarding dealing with differences, stabilising borders, and moving towards a settlement. We are pleased to see the stability that is now re-established," he said.
The Chinese foreign minister also recognized the input of NSA Doval as India's Special Representative, observing that the relation is at "an important opportunity of improvement and growth."
Ahead of the SCO Summit, Wang Yi reiterated the importance of the visit by Prime Minister Modi.
The Chinese side places particular importance on the visit of the Prime Minister to China to take part in the SCO summit at our invitation. We are confident that the Indian side will also contribute to a successful summit in Tianjin. History and reality demonstrate once again that a good and stable China-India relationship is in the fundamental and long-term interests of both our nations. It is also what developing countries all hope to see," he said.
Reiterating the necessity for more in-depth interaction, Wang Yi called upon both countries to tighten communication, improve trust, expand cooperation, and resolve boundary issues constructively.
He added that China is willing to work together with India to "build more consensus and find the direction, the concrete targets of the next round of boundary consultations ahead, and create more conditions for the improvement and further development of our bilateral relations."
