China’s Wang Yi Urges ‘Correct Strategic Understanding’ With India Before Border Talks

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on Monday urged India and China to establish a “correct strategic understanding” and view each other as partners, according to a Chinese foreign ministry readout.

Wang, on a two-day visit to New Delhi, held talks with external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on border peace, trade, connectivity and bilateral exchanges. He also noted that dialogue at various levels was being gradually restored and that ties were “returning to cooperation.”

“As major countries, China and India should set an example for developing nations by uniting and strengthening themselves,” Wang said, according to Reuters.

Jaishankar, meanwhile, stressed the need for a “candid and constructive” approach based on “mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest,” reiterating India’s call to move the de-escalation process forward along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). He also raised concerns previously conveyed to Wang during their July meeting in Beijing.

Wang will on Tuesday hold the 24th round of border talks with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His trip marks the first visit by a Chinese minister since the two sides agreed last October to wind down their military standoff along the LAC, which began in 2020 and led to the deadly Galwan Valley clash.

The visit comes just days before Modi travels to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit — his first visit to the country in seven years.