China minister to visit India in December

New Delhi: Chinese foreign minister and state councillor Wang Yi is likely to visit India later this month to hold boundary talks with national security adviser Ajit Doval. Mr Wang and Mr Doval are the designated special representatives (SRs) of the two countries for the boundary talks. Apart from holding boundary talks with Mr Doval, the Chinese foreign minister is expected to meet external affairs minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar.

This comes on the heels of the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping last month in Brazil in which the two leaders had “noted that the special representatives will have another meeting on matters relating to the boundary question and reiterated the importance of maintaining peace and security in the border areas”.

Mr Wang’s visit will also be the first visit by a senior Chinese leader to India after the informal summit between PM Modi and President Xi in Mamallapuram near Chennai in October this year.

Late last month, it had also been announced that India would send a “mid-level tri-service delegation of the Indian armed forces” to China, with the naval ships too set to dock at Chinese ports and that the two nations would also host a series of cultural exchanges relating to Buddhism and the visit of ancient Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang. A total of 70 measures are to be taken jointly by the two Asian giants to celebrate the 70th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries. These will be undertaken in 2020-21.

It may be recalled that two months ago, the two Asian giants had been involved in a fresh war of words, with Beijing calling the creation of two new union territories (of J&K and Ladakh) as “unlawful and void” after which New Delhi swiftly hit back to remind China that it (China) has “illegally occupied” large tracts of land belonging to (the now erstwhile) J&K State.