Chinese foreign minister may visit India in March

A visit to India by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi later this month could be on the cards but there is no finality on it yet, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

There is no official word by the Ministry of External Affairs or the Chinese government on the possible visit.

If the visit takes place, it will be the first trip by a senior Chinese leader to India after the eastern Ladakh standoff between the two countries began in May 2020.

It is learnt that the proposal for the visit came from the Chinese side and Wang also intends to travel to Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh as part of a four-nation tour.

Nepal's Kathmandu Post reported on Tuesday that Wang is scheduled to arrive in the Nepalese capital on March 26 on a two-day official visit.

It is not clear whether Wang's possible visit to New Delhi will take place after his trip to Kathmandu or before it.

In the last one-and-a-half years, Jaishankar and Wang held several rounds of talks in Moscow and Dushanbe to defuse tensions in eastern Ladakh.

In September 2020, Jaishankar and Wang held extensive talks in Moscow on the sidelines of a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) during which they reached a five-point agreement to resolve the eastern Ladakh border row.

The pact included measures like quick disengagement of troops, avoiding action that could escalate tensions, adherence to all agreements and protocols on border management and steps to restore peace along the LAC.

The two foreign ministers also held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of another SCO meeting in Tajik capital city Dushanbe in July last year with a focus on the border row. They again met in Dushanbe in September.

India has been consistently maintaining that peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was key for the overall development of the bilateral ties.

This position was again emphasised by Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla last week.

"We have made it clear to China that peace and tranquillity in the border areas are essential for the development of our relationship. Development of India-China relationship has to be based on 'three mutuals' -- mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest," Shringla said.

Earlier this month, Wang said some forces have always sought to stoke tensions between China and India, in an apparent reference to the US.

Wang's proposed visit, if it takes place, is expected to provide an opportunity for the two sides to exchange views on the crisis in Ukraine.

On March 11, India and China held the 15th round of high-level military dialogue to resolve the pending issues in the eastern Ladakh region.

The eastern Ladakh border standoff between the Indian and Chinese militaries erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong lake areas.

Both sides gradually enhanced their deployment by rushing in tens of thousands of soldiers as well as heavy weaponry.

As a result of a series of military and diplomatic talks, the two sides completed the disengagement process last year in the north and south banks of the Pangong lake and in the Gogra area.

Each side currently has around 50,000 to 60,000 troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the sensitive sector.

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