Delhi, Beijing bid to move ties to pre-2020 normal: China officials

This was the message from several meetings The Indian Express had with Chinese officials, scholars and analysts in state-run think-tanks and media organisations.

This is the first time Chinese officials met with an Indian media delegation after the disengagement in the border stand-off.

The Chinese government also expects PM Modi to visit China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit next year.

Officials in Beijing said that Xi and Modi had an “ice-breaking meeting” in Kazan, Russia, last month. They said that the two leaders share a “personal friendship — that was visible as both chose to not refer to the “talking points” prepared by their aides for the bilateral meeting. This was their first meeting in five years since the Covid-19 pandemic and the LAC face-off.

They also said that the two countries’ leaders have asked the Special Representatives (SRs), the Foreign Ministers and the Deputy Foreign Ministers to discuss the next steps and the meetings.

“The SRs, and senior ministers and officials may have an opportunity to meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brazil on November 18-19,” a Chinese official said.

Stressing that China wants to integrate and open up to the wider world, the Chinese official said: “On this issue, both China and India have the same perspective… during the Kazan meet, our leaders met and they took the relationship to a strategic height. They need to address all issues together.”

“The border issue has to be resolved at a faster pace. But we don’t think that issue should be the centre of the relationship. There have been 20 rounds of talks at the level of commanders and diplomats. There has been disengagement in specific points and that happened before the leaders met. The leaders gave positive direction to the talks… The two leaders always want to push the relationship to a better situation… this time Modi did not read from the talking points or the official notes. He spoke from the heart. And so did President Xi. This showed the connection they have,” the Chinese official said.

He said that the relationship needs to be driven forward by both sides through stepped-up dialogue. “Both sides need to coordinate on resolving the border issue and on other issues. But, first, we need to have more talks at every level and at every opportunity… due to Covid and the border situation, there were no talks for many years and misunderstandings were caused by external forces. India and China need to have more cooperation and put more focus on issues like climate change and AI, green energy transition — we need to support each other and understand each other and come to a common perspective,” the official said.

The official also indicated that former US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House indicates a toughening of position by the US. India and China, therefore, should “work together” to find solutions to the common challenges confronting the two countries.

He said that next year China is the chair of SCO and “we hope PM Modi will be coming to China for the same … Our Premier went to India for the G20 and we also contributed towards the G20 declaration and worked with India on that…We have left the ball in India’s court on when will the officials meet next, on SR level talks.”

The border standoff cast a long shadow on political ties between the two countries. After the October 21 announcement of a breakthrough, the two countries started patrolling along the LAC. This an important step in the three-step process: disengagement, de-escalation and de-induction of troops.

The next steps are expected to be finalised by the two governments. The two leaders met on October 23 on the sidelines of the BRICS leaders’ summit in Kazakhstan.

(The reporter is in China as a guest of the Chinese embassy in Delhi)