Steps to rebuild ties announced as Foreign Secretary meets counterpart in Beijing; Mansarovar pilgrimage to restart this summer; Wang calls for end to ‘mutual suspicion and estrangement’
Three months after negotiating an end to the military stand-off at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), India and China agreed to concrete measures to resume direct flights, visas, a number of exchanges, and the Mansarovar Yatra for pilgrims this summer. They also agreed to resume the dialogue on trans-border rivers and sharing of hydrological data, that China has withheld for years. Both sides committed to marking the 75th year of establishment of ties with a number of celebratory events this year, as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called for an end to “mutual suspicion and estrangement” between the two countries.
The decisions on reviving various measures were taken during a meeting between Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong in Beijing.
“As agreed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at their meeting in Kazan in October, the two sides reviewed the state of India-China bilateral relations comprehensively and agreed to take certain people-centric steps to stabilise and rebuild ties,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said, announcing that the technical officials and “relevant mechanisms” would now meet to take forward plans to resume direct flights between India and China, the Mansarovar Pilgrimage in the “summer of 2025”. It said the India-China Expert Level Mechanism would discuss resumption of provision of hydrological data and “other cooperation pertaining to trans-border rivers”, while the two sides would facilitate “people-to-people exchanges, including media and think tank interactions”. Reports about the construction of a hydropower project on the Brahmaputra in South Tibet (Yarlung Zangpo) have raised concerns in New Delhi.
Trade curbs
The officials also held a discussion on economic and trade areas. This is significant as despite record trade levels, India and China have been levying restrictions on each other amidst the LAC tensions. While China had complained about the need for a “level playing field” over India’s decision in 2020 to require Home Ministry clearance for investment from China and other land-border countries, denial of business visas, as well as raids on Chinese telecom companies, India has been worried about Chinese restrictions on pharmaceutical ingredients (API), high technology exports and transfers to India, as well as withholding critical equipment like Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs).
“Specific concerns in the economic and trade areas were discussed with a view to resolving these issues and promoting long-term policy transparency and predictability”, the MEA statement added, without giving further details.
Mr. Misri’s visit, which is understood to have been held on January 26-27 before the official closure for the Chinese New Year, marks the “resumption” of the FS-Vice FM level bilateral dialogue mechanism, and follows meetings between Mr. Modi and Mr. Xi in October, meetings between the Foreign Ministers, Defence Ministers and Special Representatives, indicating that India and China have now resumed all regular bilateral discourse.
Officials however, declined to comment on whether the resumption of dialogue mechanisms would include an “informal summit” between Mr. Modi and Mr. Xi this year, as had been held in Wuhan in 2018 and Mamallapuram in 2020. All the engagements, as well as the flights, visas, Mansarovar pilgrimage, had been suspended since 2020 due to the COVID pandemic and after the Chinese PLA transgressed the LAC, leading to the deadly Galwan clashes in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed.
Mr. Misri, who travelled to China on Sunday, also met with Chinese Foreign Minister Mr. Wang, who is a Member of the Politburo of Communist Party of China (CCP)’s Central Committee and the CCP’s Minister of the International Department Liu Jianchao during the visit. According to a readout issued by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Misri had offered India’s support for China’s chairmanship of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in 2025. Mr. Modi is expected to attend the Head of State Summit slated for June this year.
During his meeting with Mr. Misri, Mr. Wang said the two sides should “seize the opportunity to move toward each other, explore more substantive initiatives, and commit themselves to mutual understanding, mutual support and mutual achievement, rather than mutual suspicion, estrangement and wearing each other down”. He added that the “improvement and development” of China-India ties was in their “fundamental interest”, as well as for the Global South or developing countries. It added that Mr. Misri had highlighted the “relaunch of practical cooperation” between them in several areas as a result of the October 21 détente and Modi-Xi meeting.
India, China to resume direct flights, issue visas
Steps to rebuild ties announced as Foreign Secretary meets counterpart in Beijing; Mansarovar pilgrimage to restart this summer; Wang calls for end to ‘mutual suspicion and estrangement’
Three months after negotiating an end to the military stand-off at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), India and China agreed to concrete measures to resume direct flights, visas, a number of exchanges, and the Mansarovar Yatra for pilgrims this summer. They also agreed to resume the dialogue on trans-border rivers and sharing of hydrological data, that China has withheld for years. Both sides committed to marking the 75th year of establishment of ties with a number of celebratory events this year, as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called for an end to “mutual suspicion and estrangement” between the two countries.
The decisions on reviving various measures were taken during a meeting between Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong in Beijing.
“As agreed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at their meeting in Kazan in October, the two sides reviewed the state of India-China bilateral relations comprehensively and agreed to take certain people-centric steps to stabilise and rebuild ties,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said, announcing that the technical officials and “relevant mechanisms” would now meet to take forward plans to resume direct flights between India and China, the Mansarovar Pilgrimage in the “summer of 2025”. It said the India-China Expert Level Mechanism would discuss resumption of provision of hydrological data and “other cooperation pertaining to trans-border rivers”, while the two sides would facilitate “people-to-people exchanges, including media and think tank interactions”. Reports about the construction of a hydropower project on the Brahmaputra in South Tibet (Yarlung Zangpo) have raised concerns in New Delhi.
Trade curbs
The officials also held a discussion on economic and trade areas. This is significant as despite record trade levels, India and China have been levying restrictions on each other amidst the LAC tensions. While China had complained about the need for a “level playing field” over India’s decision in 2020 to require Home Ministry clearance for investment from China and other land-border countries, denial of business visas, as well as raids on Chinese telecom companies, India has been worried about Chinese restrictions on pharmaceutical ingredients (API), high technology exports and transfers to India, as well as withholding critical equipment like Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs).
“Specific concerns in the economic and trade areas were discussed with a view to resolving these issues and promoting long-term policy transparency and predictability”, the MEA statement added, without giving further details.
Mr. Misri’s visit, which is understood to have been held on January 26-27 before the official closure for the Chinese New Year, marks the “resumption” of the FS-Vice FM level bilateral dialogue mechanism, and follows meetings between Mr. Modi and Mr. Xi in October, meetings between the Foreign Ministers, Defence Ministers and Special Representatives, indicating that India and China have now resumed all regular bilateral discourse.
Officials however, declined to comment on whether the resumption of dialogue mechanisms would include an “informal summit” between Mr. Modi and Mr. Xi this year, as had been held in Wuhan in 2018 and Mamallapuram in 2020. All the engagements, as well as the flights, visas, Mansarovar pilgrimage, had been suspended since 2020 due to the COVID pandemic and after the Chinese PLA transgressed the LAC, leading to the deadly Galwan clashes in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed.
Mr. Misri, who travelled to China on Sunday, also met with Chinese Foreign Minister Mr. Wang, who is a Member of the Politburo of Communist Party of China (CCP)’s Central Committee and the CCP’s Minister of the International Department Liu Jianchao during the visit. According to a readout issued by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Misri had offered India’s support for China’s chairmanship of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in 2025. Mr. Modi is expected to attend the Head of State Summit slated for June this year.
During his meeting with Mr. Misri, Mr. Wang said the two sides should “seize the opportunity to move toward each other, explore more substantive initiatives, and commit themselves to mutual understanding, mutual support and mutual achievement, rather than mutual suspicion, estrangement and wearing each other down”. He added that the “improvement and development” of China-India ties was in their “fundamental interest”, as well as for the Global South or developing countries. It added that Mr. Misri had highlighted the “relaunch of practical cooperation” between them in several areas as a result of the October 21 détente and Modi-Xi meeting.
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