Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi will visit India from Monday to Wednesday, China’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday, for talks about a disputed border in the Himalayas.
This is only the second such meeting since a deadly clash in 2020 between Indian and Chinese troops at the border.
Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visited Beijing in July.
Relations between the two Asian giants have been thawing since an agreement last October on patrolling their Himalayan border, easing a five-year stand-off that had hurt trade, investment and air travel.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the end of the month when he travels to China – his first visit in seven years – to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, a regional security bloc, which would be Modi’s first visit since 2018.
Bonded by tariffs
Foreign ministry officials on both sides have previously said that India and China are discussing resuming border trade five years after it was halted, as US tariffs disrupt the global trade order.
The two major economic powers have long competed for strategic influence across South Asia.
However, caught in global trade and geopolitical turbulence triggered by US President Donald Trump’s tariff regime, the two countries have moved to mend ties.
Resuming direct flights and issuing tourist visas have been seen as an effort to rebuild a relationship damaged after a deadly 2020 border clash between troops.
In a statement sent to AFP on Thursday, China’s foreign ministry said the two sides have “reached a consensus on cross-border exchanges and co-operation, including resumption of border trade”.
New Delhi’s junior foreign minister, Kirti Vardhan Singh, told parliament last week that “India has engaged with the Chinese side to facilitate the resumption of border trade”. No restart date was given by either side.
Soaring US-India ties
Successive US administrations have seen India as a longstanding ally with like-minded interests when it comes to China. India is part of the Quad security alliance with the United States, as well as Australia and Japan.
However, ties between New Delhi and Washington have been strained by Trump’s ultimatum for India to end its purchases of Russian oil, a key source of revenue for Moscow as it wages its military offensive in Ukraine.
The United States will double new import tariffs on India from 25 percent to 50 percent by 27 August if New Delhi does not switch crude suppliers.
