NEW DELHI: Hours after China’s Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui on Monday floated the idea of an India-China-Pakistan trilateral dialogue under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the foreign office here dismissed it as Luo’s personal opinion.
“Some Indian friends suggested that India, China and Pakistan may have some kind of trilateral summit on the sidelines of SCO. So, if China, Russia and Mongolia can have a trilateral summit, then why not India, China & Pakistan?” Luo asked while delivering the opening remarks at a seminar titled “beyond Wuhan: how far can China-India relations go” here.
In a terse response, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said, “We have seen reports on comments made by the Chinese Ambassador in this matter. We have not received any such suggestion from the Chinese government. We consider the statement as the personal opinion of the Ambassador. Matters related to India-Pakistan relations are purely bilateral in nature and have no scope for the involvement of any third country.”
India and Pakistan were admitted to the Eurasian geostrategic platform last year, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the SCO summit as a full member earlier this month in Qingdao, China, where he also had a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“The Qingdao meeting is essentially the continuation of the Wuhan informal summit (Apr 27-28). In Wuhan, the summit created a new model of engagement between the two leaders. It is of great significance, fruitful and a milestone in the history of bilateral ties,” he said.
Personal view of envoy: MEA
“We consider the statement (trilateral dialogue) as the personal opinion of the Ambassador. Matters related to India-Pakistan relations are purely bilateral in nature,” says MEA statement.