Express View: Breaking the ice with China
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri's Beijing visit signals a thaw in India-China ties. Security dilemmas, however, remain
Both sides are expected to engage in dialogue over trans-border rivers and share hydrological data The talks in Beijing between Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and senior Chinese officials including Foreign Minister Wang Yi are a welcome step in the ongoing normalisation of India-China relations, especially as both countries mark 75 years of diplomatic ties this year.
The broader context of Misri’s Beijing visit, however, lies in the four-year-long disengagement process which concluded in November last year with the patrolling agreement for Demchok and Depsang — two friction points following China’s incursions into eastern Ladakh along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in 2020. The Chinese military’s actions were a direct violation of the confidence-building measures in place at the time, with the crisis escalating into the Galwan Valley clashes which led to the first fatalities on the India-China border since 1975. For the past four years, discussions between the two sides have largely been limited to military issues at the border. This time, however, the talks centred around “people-centric steps”.
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