Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has begun talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in New Delhi, and stressed that there could be positive momentum in ties between the neighbours only if there was peace on their border.
Wang arrived in the Indian capital on Monday for a two-day visit during which he will hold the 24th round of border talks with Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"This (discussing border issues) is very important because the basis for any positive momentum in our ties is the ability to jointly maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas," Jaishankar told Wang in his opening remarks.
It is also important for the two countries to pull back their troops amassed along their disputed border in the western Himalayas, since the deadly border clash in 2020, Jaishankar said.
Modi to visit China
Wang's visit comes days before Modi travels to China, his first visit in seven years, to attend the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional political and security group which includes Russia.
Ties between the two countries had deteriorated sharply following a military clash on their disputed Himalayan borders in the summer of 2020, in which 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers were killed.
Relations between the two Asian giants began to soothe in October, after New Delhi and Beijing reached a milestone pact to lower military tensions on their Himalayan borders following talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Modi in Russia.
