India and China Foreign Ministers Hold Awkward, 3-Hour Meeting in New Delhi

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a meeting with his Indian counterpart, External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, on Friday that reportedly lasted three hours and featured extensive Indian complaints about China’s repeated illegal incursions across the Indian border.

Wang also met with Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval during his visit, the first of a high-ranking Chinese official to India since the June 2020 Galwan Valley battle that the Indian military asserted ended with twice the number of Chinese casualties than Indians; China denied India’s death count and claimed it only lost four soldiers. The conflict began when Indian soldiers confronted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops about establishing a presence on Indian territory. Beijing insisted the soldiers were stationed on legal Chinese territory. The Galwan Valley is located in the disputed Ladakh region, a Himalayan territory that boasted steep and frigid terrain.

The Galwan Valley exchange was the most intense military confrontation between India and China since 1967 and preceded the first exchange of gunfire between the two countries in 45 years. In September 2020, India claimed that it had defeated China again in a separate clash in an area between Ladakh and occupied Tibet, resulting in India seizing control of a mountain peak over Pangong Tso, a lake on their mutual border.

China has continued to antagonize India on its border by growing its military presence there. India accused China of illegally building “villages” in disputed areas in November. China also used the Galwan Valley battle for propaganda purposes during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, featuring veterans of the battle as Olympic torchbearers.

The Chinese government has provided little information regarding Wang’s exchanges in New Delhi at press time. The state-run Xinhua News Agency published a brief summary of Wang’s remarks following his meeting with Doval that did not mention the two nations’ conflict on their mutual border.

“Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Friday that China and India should stick to their own development paths and join hands to safeguard peace and stability both in the region and in the world,” according to Xinhua.

The government propaganda agency relayed that Wang “proposed a three-point approach” to their relationship: “First, both sides should view bilateral relations with a long-term vision. Second, they should see each other’s development with a win-win mentality. Third, both countries should take part in the multilateral process with a cooperative posture.”

The Chinese Foreign Ministry shared some comments from Wang with reporters.

“The whole world will listen when China and India speak with one voice. The world will pay attention to the cooperation between China and India,” the foreign minister reportedly said, according to the South China Morning Post. “The two sides should strengthen communication and coordination, support each other, release more positive signals for upholding multilateralism, and inject more positive energy into improving global governance.”

The Chinese Foreign Ministry refused to answer questions about his visit to India during its regular press briefing on Friday.

In contrast, Jaishankar personally addressed reporters following the meeting, acknowledging that the two top diplomats “met for about three hours” and belying frustrations with Wang’s perspective on the border issue, according to the Times of India.

“We met for about 3 hours and addressed a broad substantive agenda in an open and candid manner. We discussed our bilateral relations that have been disturbed as a result of Chinese actions in April 2020,” Jaishankar said, referring to the PLA’s illegally crossing into India in Ladakh at the time that led to the Galwan Valley battle. Jaishankar asserted that China continues to keep troops alarmingly close to Indian territory, a situation that prevents China and India from having friendly relations.

“So long [as] there are very large deployments, border situation is not normal,” Jaishankar reportedly said. “We still have ongoing friction areas, have made progress in resolving some friction areas, including Pangong Tso. Our discussion today was how to take this forward.”

The South China Morning Post quoted Jaishankar as stating that bilateral ties “cannot be normal if the situation in the border areas is not normal … surely, the presence of a large number of troops there, in contravention to agreements, is not normal.”

“India wants a stable and predictable relationship but restoration of normalcy will require a restoration of peace and tranquility,” he reportedly added.

Jaishankar did, the Morning Post note, highlight China’s and India’s stances on the war between Russia and Ukraine as a point of agreement.

“We both agreed on the importance of an immediate ceasefire and a return to diplomacy,” he said.

Neither China nor India has sought any significant involvement in the issue, and both have largely rejected pressure from the West to sanction Russia for expanding its eight-year-old invasion of Ukraine deep into urban areas. Russia has attempted to use this to argue that the great powers of the international community are united against the Ukrainian government – an image largely shattered by Jaishankar’s aggressive comments on China’s illegal incursions into his country.

The aftermath of Wang’s meeting with senior Indian officials presented a mirror image of the fallout from past similar meetings between Chinese and American officials, where Chinese state media outlets enthusiastically condemn America while the White House offers minimal information. Most recently, this month, Chinese state media celebrated a seven-hour meeting between senior Politburo member Yang Jiechi and American National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan by quoting Yang extensively and omitting any remarks from Sullivan. The White House published a short readout that offered no details other than acknowledging the two officials discussed the Russian war.

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