National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on his visit to attend the 20th Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Security Council Secretaries, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Monday.
As per the MEA, the gathering of the two leaders was centered around examining new developments in India-China ties, with both sides concurring on the need to strengthen bilateral relations. They emphasized enhancing people-to-people contacts to underpin wider diplomatic cooperation.
The MEA added, "NSA also underlined the necessity of combating terrorism in all its manifestations and forms to ensure overall peace and stability in the region."
In their conversation, Doval and Wang also shared perceptions on a variety of regional, global, and bilateral issues of mutual interest. Doval was optimistic about proceeding with talks under the Special Representative (SR) mechanism, and stated he looked forward to hosting Wang Yi in India at a convenient time for both sides for the 24th round of SR-level talks.
The meeting was against the backdrop of SCO summit preparations, in which member states are endeavouring to finalize a joint statement.
India, in the course of the deliberations on the summit, insisted that there be a mention of the recent Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 tourists were killed by The Resistance Front gunmen, which is an offshoot of the Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
India has called for the eventual summit outcome document of the SCO, which is chaired by China, to explicitly condemn the attack. Sources indicate that there are intense negotiations aimed at including India's suggestion, with fears that leaving out the incident would undermine the summit's credibility in addressing terrorism.
It made a similar move by asking for a reference to two recent attacks in its soil—the hijacking of Jaffar Express and a Baloch militants' ambush of a bus—to be included in the same document, making the drafting process complicated.
The SCO, established in 2001 in Shanghai, is a central multilateral body emphasizing regional security, political, and economic cooperation. Its members today are India, China, Pakistan, Russia, Iran, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
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