New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar discussed the resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, management of peace at the borders, connectivity of commercial flights, and trans-border river management with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, on the margins of the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting in the South African city of Johannesburg Friday.
“The meeting lasted for about 30 minutes. The two ministers reviewed the developments in our bilateral relationship since their last meeting in November. Specifically, the management of peace and tranquillity in border areas, resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, trans-border rivers, flight connectivity and travel facilitation were discussed. There was also an exchange of views on the G20 and the SCO,” Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), said at a regular press briefing Friday.
This is the second meeting between the two foreign ministers in four months. The two last met on the margins of the G20 leaders’ summit in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro last November.
Ties between India and China have seen a thaw recently, with multiple high-level delegation meetings following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bilateral discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the margins of the summit last October in the Russian city of Kazan.
The Galwan clashes in the summer of 2020 led to a diplomatic chill between the two neighbours. On 21 October 2024, India announced that an agreement with China had been reached regarding disengagement at the friction points. This paved the way for the Modi-Xi meeting a few days later.
After Jaishankar’s meeting with Wang last November, India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri travelled to China for discussions through the Special Representative and Foreign Secretary–Vice Minister dialogue mechanisms.
Last month, during Misri’s discussion with Vice Minister Sun Weidong, the two sides agreed to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra later this year, as well as agreeing in principle to resume direct flights between the two countries. Sun was formerly China’s ambassador to India.
India has been raising the issue of the resumption of the yatra during talks with China. The yatra was suspended in 2020 following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. For Beijing, the resumption of direct air travel has been an important issue.
Direct flights between the two countries, too, have remained suspended since the pandemic. Beijing has also been pushing New Delhi to issue more visas to Chinese nationals. The number of visas issued to Chinese nationals has fallen in recent years.
For India, another challenge is China’s recent announcement of the construction of what could become the world’s largest dam on the Yarlung Zangbo river in Tibet. The river flows through India, where in the lower parts it is named the Brahmaputra.
The trans-border management of rivers has been consistently raised by New Delhi in meetings with officials from China.
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)
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