External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in the Kazakhstan capital of Astana on Thursday, their first meeting in almost a year amid the military standoff on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Both foreign ministers are in Astana for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit held on July 3-4. While Jaishankar represented India at the summit in the absence of the prime minister, Wang is part of President Xi Jinping’s delegation.
There was no formal announcement regarding the meeting by India or China, though the people cited above said on condition of anonymity that Jaishankar and Wang are expected to hold talks on Thursday morning before he returns to India. Such a meeting would be an opportunity for the two sides to take stock of the situation along the LAC, with the face-off entering its fifth year in May.
A deadly clash in Galwan Valley in June 2020, which killed 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese troops, sent ties plummeting to a six-decade low. Jaishankar and Wang had a brief encounter on the margins of the Munich Security Conference in Germany in February, and they last held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of various Asean-related meetings in Jakarta on July 14, 2023.
The Indian leadership, including Jaishankar, has maintained that the overall relationship with China cannot be normalised without peace and tranquillity on the border. Despite dozens of rounds of diplomatic and military talks, India and China have been unable to address remaining “friction points” on the LAC such as Depsang and Demchok. However, even at his meeting with Jaishankar last July, Wang said that the two countries should “not define overall relations with specific issues” – a reference to China’s position that the LAC issue should be put in its “appropriate place” in the overall relationship.
The Jaishankar-Wang meeting could pave the way for the next round of discussions regarding the remaining friction points on the LAC, ultimately aiming to resolve the tensions between India and China. This diplomatic development is crucial in the context of the ongoing military standoff and the need to maintain peace and tranquillity on the border.
