NEW DELHI: Since the Galwan conflict happened in 2020, India and China’s relations have not come back on track. Against the backdrop of this, China's Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, met with External Affairs Minister, Dr S Jaishankar, on Friday and the two had a three-hour-long interaction.
"I would describe our current situation as work in progress, obviously at a slower pace than desirable and my discussions with FM Wang Yi today were aimed at expediting the deescalation process," Dr Jaishankar said.
The two Foreign Ministers exchanged views on international issues like Ukraine and Afghanistan. They also discussed education, travel and commerce.
"I apprised the minister about the plight of Indian students who are stranded in China since the outbreak of the pandemic and wanted to come home. He assured us that once he is back he would look into this and work out a way which would enable them to travel home," Dr Jaishankar said.
Wang Yi and Dr Jaishankar had been in touch for the past two years. They met in Moscow in 2020 and then in Dushanbe in July and September.
"We have had telephonic conversations during this period. And the focus of these interactions has naturally been on the situation in our border areas. Our meeting had led to an understanding on disengagement and de-escalation. The challenge, of course, has been to implement it on the ground," Dr Jaishankar added.
India and China have had 15 rounds of talks between Senior Commanders and progress has been achieved on several friction points from the disengagement perspective. This needs to be taken forward since the completion of disengagement is necessary for discussions on de-escalation to take place.
The impact of the tensions in the border areas on the overall relationship has been visible in the past two years. This is only natural since peace and tranquillity in the border areas have been the foundation of stable and cooperative ties.
"The frictions and tensions that arise from China’s deployments since April 2020 cannot be reconciled with a normal relationship between two neighbours. Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke about China’s desire for a return to normalcy, while also referring to the larger significance of our ties," Dr Jaishankar added.