New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping had reached a “consensus” on stabilising India-China bilateral relations at Bali during the G20 meeting in November 2022, the Chinese foreign ministry has claimed.
The statement comes eight months after the two leaders publicly exchanged greetings on the sidelines of the G20 summit last year at Bali. Back then, New Delhi had called the brief meeting an “exchange of courtesy”.
The Chinese claim was made part of a press statement — which is not available on the English portal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website of China — on the discussion between National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and Wang Yi, Chinese Political Bureau member and the Director of the Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Foreign Affairs Commission, on the sidelines of the BRICS NSA’s 24 July meeting in Johannesburg. But, reports by Chinese state media did not cover the remarks on the Bali ‘consensus’.
Wang has been reappointed as China’s foreign minister, replacing his predecessor Qin Gang.
“The two sides should adhere to the strategic judgement of the leaders of the two countries that they do not pose a threat to each other, and they are each other’s development opportunities,” the statement in Chinese said.
The two sides should truly “implement the consensus” on stabilising bilateral relations – into specific policies and translate them into concerted actions by different departments, to “enhance strategic mutual trust” and focus on consensus building and cooperation, it said.
It also called for promoting the “return of bilateral relations to the track of health and stable development at an early date”.
Wang pointed out that a major global trend today is the rise of developing countries including China and India and that China is willing to work with developing countries including India – as China is not following the same policies of other countries in seeking to be a hegemon – to jointly support multilateralism and the democratisation of international relations, Beijing said in the statement.
The Chinese statement also stated that Doval described the destiny of the two sides as closely linked and that it is necessary to rebuild strategic mutual trust and seek common development.
Commenting on the Chinese statement, foreign policy expert C. Raja Mohan asserted that any change has to reflect at the LAC. “If there is any real change in the Chinese position, it will be evident at the border and not in any one unilateral statements of the kind that Beijing put out after the meetings in Johannesburg,” the senior fellow at Asia Society Policy Institute told ThePrint.
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India’s stand
In comparison, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Doval conveyed, “that the situation along the LAC in the Western Sector of the India-China boundary since 2020 had eroded strategic trust and the public and political basis of the relationship.”
Doval emphasised, “the importance of continuing efforts to fully resolve the situation and restore peace and tranquillity in the border areas,” to remove impediments to “normalcy in bilateral relations,” the MEA statement reads.
“The two sides agreed that the India-China bilateral relationship is significant not only for the two countries but also for the region and world.”
Since the clashes at Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh in 2020, the ties between India and China have been tenuous. The two neighbours have held 18 rounds of military talks and have discussed proposals for disengagement in the region, but ties remain frosty.
At the 18 round of corps commander talks in April, the Indian side had strongly pressed for de-escalation along the LAC and also easing of tensions in the Depsang Plains.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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