During talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G-20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting at Johannesburg the External Affairs Minister discussed bilateral developments including the situation on the Line of Actual Control
India and China have “worked hard to preserve” the G-20 organisation, said External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Friday (February 21, 2025) during talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G-20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting at Johannesburg in South Africa.
In the half-hour-long meeting where they discussed bilateral developments including the situation on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Mr. Jaishankar pointed out that both countries are “members of the G-20, SCO and BRICS”, and had discussed “regional and global” issues.
“We should recognise that in a polarised global situation, our two countries have worked hard to preserve and protect the G-20 as an institution. This in itself testifies to the importance of international cooperation,” Mr. Jaishankar told Mr. Wang in his opening remarks of the India-China meeting.
Meeting in Johannesburg, Mr. Jaishankar said he hoped to take forward talks on bilateral issues, including the “management of peace and tranquillity in the border areas” as had been discussed by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri who have visited Beijing in recent months for talks.
“Such gatherings have provided an opportunity for our interaction even when our ties were going through a difficult phase,” Mr. Jaishankar said, in a reference to the bilateral tensions over the deadly Galwan clashes in 2020, and China’s aggression along the LAC, in a significant indicator the government is putting the tensions in the past tense.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the two leaders “reviewed developments in a bilateral relationship since their last meeting in November” on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Brazil. They specifically discussed the resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage, trans-border river talks, flight connectivity, and facilitation of travel.
U.S. boycott
The references to the multilateral organisations by Mr. Jaishankar were also pointed, given U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent attack on the BRICS grouping of emerging economies, saying it was “dead”, as well as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s boycott of the G-20 meeting in South Africa.
Mr. Jaishankar has also met leaders of other BRICS founder members, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Viera in Johannesburg. While South Africa is hosting the G-20 summit later this year, Brazil will host the BRICS summit, both of which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend.
“As G-20 members, we also must recognise that multilateralism itself lies deeply damaged,” Mr. Jaishankar said at the G-20, referring to the United Nations. “More ‘plurilateralism’ is required to plug global deficits. International cooperation itself must be less opaque or unilateral. And the global agenda cannot be narrowed down to the interests of a few,” he added.
Next year’s G-20 summit is due to be hosted by the U.S., and recent comments by the U.S. leadership have cast doubts over the organisation’s future.
Among other meetings with his counterparts, Mr. Jaishankar also took part in the India-Australia-France trilateral meeting in Johannesburg at the Foreign Minister-level. “Our three countries have shared interests in the Indo-Pacific and the potential to strengthen each other’s position,” he wrote on X.
India, China worked hard to protect G-20, says Jaishankar
During talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G-20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting at Johannesburg the External Affairs Minister discussed bilateral developments including the situation on the Line of Actual Control
India and China have “worked hard to preserve” the G-20 organisation, said External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Friday (February 21, 2025) during talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G-20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting at Johannesburg in South Africa.
In the half-hour-long meeting where they discussed bilateral developments including the situation on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Mr. Jaishankar pointed out that both countries are “members of the G-20, SCO and BRICS”, and had discussed “regional and global” issues.
“We should recognise that in a polarised global situation, our two countries have worked hard to preserve and protect the G-20 as an institution. This in itself testifies to the importance of international cooperation,” Mr. Jaishankar told Mr. Wang in his opening remarks of the India-China meeting.
Meeting in Johannesburg, Mr. Jaishankar said he hoped to take forward talks on bilateral issues, including the “management of peace and tranquillity in the border areas” as had been discussed by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri who have visited Beijing in recent months for talks.
“Such gatherings have provided an opportunity for our interaction even when our ties were going through a difficult phase,” Mr. Jaishankar said, in a reference to the bilateral tensions over the deadly Galwan clashes in 2020, and China’s aggression along the LAC, in a significant indicator the government is putting the tensions in the past tense.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the two leaders “reviewed developments in a bilateral relationship since their last meeting in November” on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Brazil. They specifically discussed the resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage, trans-border river talks, flight connectivity, and facilitation of travel.
U.S. boycott
The references to the multilateral organisations by Mr. Jaishankar were also pointed, given U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent attack on the BRICS grouping of emerging economies, saying it was “dead”, as well as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s boycott of the G-20 meeting in South Africa.
Mr. Jaishankar has also met leaders of other BRICS founder members, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Viera in Johannesburg. While South Africa is hosting the G-20 summit later this year, Brazil will host the BRICS summit, both of which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend.
“As G-20 members, we also must recognise that multilateralism itself lies deeply damaged,” Mr. Jaishankar said at the G-20, referring to the United Nations. “More ‘plurilateralism’ is required to plug global deficits. International cooperation itself must be less opaque or unilateral. And the global agenda cannot be narrowed down to the interests of a few,” he added.
Next year’s G-20 summit is due to be hosted by the U.S., and recent comments by the U.S. leadership have cast doubts over the organisation’s future.
Among other meetings with his counterparts, Mr. Jaishankar also took part in the India-Australia-France trilateral meeting in Johannesburg at the Foreign Minister-level. “Our three countries have shared interests in the Indo-Pacific and the potential to strengthen each other’s position,” he wrote on X.
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