India to China: Peace linked to ties
Military stand-off may be resolved only after Modi, Xi meeting at Moscow SCO summit
The crucial bilateral meeting on Thursday evening between external affairs minister S. Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi — the first faceto-face meeting between the two after the deadly Galwan clash between Indian and Chinese troops in mid-June — lasted a few hours and ended close to 11 pm IST but there was no official word on the outcome immediately.
It was expected that Jaishankar would have told his Chinese counterpart that peace on the borders was closely linked to development of bilateral ties between the two Asian giants and that China must de-escalate by disengaging its troops to restore the April status quo in the Ladakh sector.
Jaishankar was also expected to have emphasised to his Chinese counterpart that India wanted peaceful resolution of the border dispute but was prepared to defend its territory against aggression. India has been emphasising that there should be no unilateral altering of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers meeting in Moscow. This is the second high level meeting between the two countries after defence minister Rajnath Singh met his Chinese counterpart Gen. Wei Fenghe on September 5.
Significantly, earlier in the day, the Indian and Chinese foreign ministers met at a lun
cheon meeting together with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov as part of Russia-IndiaChina (RIC) trilateral cooperation in which views were exchanged.
The trilateral luncheon meeting highlighted how the Russians are trying their best to nudge the two Asian giants towards a compromise in order to avoid a devastating war in the Ladakh sector. All three ministers were photographed standing next to each other and smiling, with the Russian foreign minister holding centrestage as the host, a symbolism that was not lost.
Some observers feel a resolution may begin if at all only after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping that could take place in Moscow on the sidelines of a SCO Summit next month.