During Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to Delhi, Beijing had called for a meeting between him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but that was 'politely' rejected.
On a surprise visit after two years, Wang Yi's request to meet PM Modi was politely but firmly turned down by New Delhi.
Wang, who met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and NSA Ajit Doval amid a lack of progress in talks on the border standoff in Ladakh, was not able to meet PM Modi as the latter had gone to Uttar Pradesh for Yogi Adityanath's swearing-in as CM of the state.
During Wang's short stay in Delhi, he and Jaishankar discussed the LAC issue, in which Jaishankar said that the relations between the two nations cannot be 'normal' unless China withdraws unusually large number of soldiers it deployed along the border since April-May 2020.
Wang argued for both sides taking a long-term view of the relations beyond the boundary dispute and conveyed to Jaishankar China's "desire" to return to normalcy in its ties with India.
Delhi, however, insisted on resolving the stand-off along the LAC first. “I was equally forthcoming that India wants a stable and predictable relationship (with China). But restoration of normalcy will obviously require a restoration of peace and tranquillity (along the LAC),” Jaishankar said after his meeting with Wang.
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