Beijing confirmed on Saturday that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit India on Monday, August 18 to participate in the 24th round of negotiations between China and India’s special representatives on the border issue.
His three-day trip came just a few days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi planned to travel to China to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit held in Tianjin from August 31 to September 1.
“From August 18 to 20, the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee, the Foreign Minister and China’s Special Representative on the China-India border issue, Wang Yi will visit India and hold the 24th round of negotiations between China and India on the border issue of India,” the Ministry of China’s Chinese Affairs said in a statement.
Wang holds talks with NSA Doval (Jaishankar)
During the visit, Wang will hold border talks with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, an Indian counterpart to his Indian (SR) dialogue framework. It is also reported that he will hold a meeting with Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar.
Shortly after Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to restore several mechanisms of dialogue between the two countries in Kazan, the NSA went to China in December and held SR talks with Wang. The meeting in Delhi is expected to be based on these commitments.
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PM Modi from Galwan Clash
Prime Minister Modi will travel to Japan around August 29 and after the trip, he will fly to Tianjin to attend the SCO summit. His involvement marks his first visit to China since the deadly Galwan Valley clashes in June 2020, with tensions on both sides.
In a recent briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said: “China welcomes Prime Minister Modi to China to attend the SCO Tianjin Summit. We believe that with the concerted efforts of all parties, the Tianjin Summit will be a solidarity, friendship and fruitful result, while the results of the SCO will improve a solid development stage and propose greater stability, improve good efforts, and constitute good efforts.
According to Beijing, leaders of more than 20 countries, including all SCO member states and 10 international organizations, are expected to be the “largest summit since the founding of the SCO.”
