External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will arrive in Beijing today. This would be Jaishankar’s first visit to China after the ties between the two neighbouring countries came under severe strain following the 2020 military standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.
Jaishankar will participate in a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers on July 14-15.
Before travelling to Tianjin for the SCO meeting, Jaishankar is expected to hold talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi. The two leaders are expected to discuss a range of issues, including rare earth supplies to India, the Dalai Lama’s succession, the recent India-Pakistan tensions, and the resumption of direct flights between the two countries.
In the last few months, India and China have initiated a number of measures to repair the bilateral ties after completing the disengagement of troops from the last of the two face-off sites in October last year.
Rajnath Singh in China last month
Jaishankar’s visit comes less than three weeks after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh travelled to the Chinese port city of Qingdao to participate in the SCO defence ministers’ conference. The meeting was unable to issue a communique, as India refused to endorse the draft without referring to the Pahalgam terror attack.
The SCO is a China-led multilateral group comprising nine permanent members, including India and Pakistan. China is the current chair of the SCO, and it is hosting the meetings of the grouping in that capacity.
In December, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval visited Beijing and held the Special Representatives (SR) dialogue on the boundary question with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang.
Doval visited China last month as well for a meeting of top security officials of the SCO member nations. China is the current chair of the SCO, and it is hosting the meetings of the grouping in that capacity.
In a statement on the SCO meeting, the Chinese foreign ministry mentioned that Jaishankar ‘will also pay a visit to China.’
“The Meeting of the Council of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Member States will be held in Tianjin on July 15. At the invitation of Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, foreign ministers of other SCO member states and heads of SCO’s permanent bodies will attend the meeting… In addition to attending the meeting, India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will also pay a visit to China,” the statement quoting a government spokesperson said.
‘Dalai Lama succession issue a thorn in ties with India’
The succession of Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, is a thorn in China-India relations, the Chinese embassy in New Delhi said on Sunday, ahead of Jaishankar’s China visit.
In a message posted on X on Sunday, Spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in India Yu King said that the Indian government has made political commitments to China.
“It recognizes that Xizang Autonomous Region is part of the territory of the People’s Republic of China and India does not allow Tibetans to engage in political activities against China in India,” she added.
Jaishankar in Singapore
Before heading to China, Jaishankar held a series of extensive high-level interactions during his visit to Singapore on July 13, underscoring the importance India attaches to its ties with the country, the MEA highlighted in an official statement on Sunday.
During the visit, he called on the President of Singapore, Tharman Shanmugaratnam and held meetings with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong and Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan, the ministry said.