Foreign Secretary arrives in Beijing as India, China attempt to repair ties

In Misri’s meeting with Liu Jianchao, head of the International Department of the CPC’s central committee, “the two sides exchanged views on jointly implementing the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, strengthening exchanges and dialogues, and promoting the improvement and healthy and stable development of China-India relations, as well as international and regional issues of common concern”, Chinese state-backed outlet Global Times reported.

The Foreign Secretary’s visit is a move to repair damaged bilateral ties after Chinese incursions in 2020 triggered a military standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

Earlier, Chinese officials had said the two sides were discussing ways to bring ties back to “normal” — as it was before the face-off began in April-May 2020.

Beijing has outlined its “wishlist”: Resumption of direct flights between the two countries, easing of visa curbs on Chinese nationals including diplomats and scholars, lifting of the ban on Chinese mobile apps, letting Chinese journalists report from India, and allowing more Indian movies in Chinese theatres.

These restrictions were imposed after the Galwan clashes in June 2020 in which 20 Indian soldiers, including a Colonel-rank officer, and at least four Chinese soldiers were killed.

But although disengagement was completed in early November and patrolling has resumed at some of the friction points, the next steps of de-escalation and de-induction of troops is still to be done.

Delhi has so far maintained that it would like to see progress on the border situation before moving on to normalising the relationship. There might be some movement on direct flights and visas for Chinese nationals. But going back to the pre-2020 levels will take some time.

China had Friday welcomed Foreign Secretary Misri’s visit and had sounded positive about its outcome, saying the development followed a series of interactions between top leaders and officials from both countries after over four years of stalled ties over the Ladakh military standoff.

“We welcome Foreign Secretary Shri Vikram Misri’s travel to China for the meeting of the Foreign Secretary-Vice Minister mechanism between China and India,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning had told a media briefing in Beijing.

Referencing the talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping and the talks between Special Representatives, Foreign ministers and Defence ministers, Mao had said during the talks both sides agreed to improve and strengthen interactions, resume institutional dialogues as well as exchanges and cooperation in various fields, including working on bringing the China-India relations back on track with sound and steady growth at an early date. Recently, both sides have acted to earnestly implement these common understandings, she had said.

The MEA had said on Thursday that “Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri will be visiting Beijing on January 26 and 27 for a meeting of the Foreign Secretary-Vice Minister mechanism between India and China”.

“The resumption of this bilateral mechanism flows from the agreement at the leadership level to discuss the next steps for India-China relations, including in the political, economic, and people-to-people domains,” it said in a brief statement.

His visit comes just over a month after National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who are also the Special Representatives, met in Beijing on December 18 — less than two months after a border patrolling arrangement was announced on October 21, which was followed by a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia on October 23.

Misri was India’s Ambassador in Beijing in 2020 when the border standoff started, and is familiar with the Chinese leadership and the cast of characters in the establishment in Beijing. His visit will be the first such engagement at the Foreign Secretary level since the border standoff.

At the Special Representatives’ meeting in Beijing last month, India and China said they agreed on a set of “six consensus” including resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, trans-border river cooperation and Nathula border trade. This was the first meeting of the SRs “since frictions emerged in the western sector of the India-China border areas in 2020”.

The meeting took place less than two months after a border patrolling arrangement was announced on October 21, which was followed by a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia on October 23. The decision to revive the SR dialogue mechanism and other such formats was taken at the Modi-Xi meeting.

After several rounds of discussions between the two countries, a breakthrough was announced on October 21 — an agreement on patrolling arrangements in the border areas.

Subsequently, India and China completed the process of disengagement at the two friction points of Depsang Plains and Demchok in eastern Ladakh, along the Line of Actual Control, setting the stage for resumption of patrolling.

The agreement on “patrolling arrangements” was an important beginning to the three-step process of disengagement, de-escalation and de-induction of troops. Now that the disengagement process is completed in eastern Ladakh, India is looking at de-escalation and de-induction of troops.

On November 18, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on the sidelines of the G20 leaders’ summit in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The two ministers discussed the “next steps in India-China relations”.

On November 20, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun had met in Laos capital Vientiane Wednesday where Singh had said “we need to focus on cooperation rather than conflict”.

Meeting Dong on the sidelines of the 11th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus, Singh had “emphasised and looked forward to greater trust and confidence building between the two sides through de-escalation” – an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 troops have been deployed on each side of the LAC in eastern Ladakh.

Misri’s visit will complete the meeting of the troika of key Indian interlocutors, since both Doval and Jaishankar have already met their Chinese counterparts.