NSA Ajit Doval Highlights ‘New Environment’ As India-China Ties Show Upward Trend Ahead Of SCO Summit

New Delhi: National Security Adviser Ajit Doval said a “new environment” had been created to help India-China relations move forward. The NSA said this in his opening remarks before Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Wang, who is in India for a two-day visit, met with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Monday and then held the 24th round of Special Representative (SR) level talks on the boundary issue with the NSA on Tuesday.

Positive Momentum Since Kazan BRICS Meet

Doval said he was pleased to see an “upward trend” since the last round of SR talks held in China in December last year. The talks came after a meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan in October last year.

“I had a wonderful meeting in the last round (of talks) in Beijing, and I am very happy that there has been an upward trend. Border has been quiet, there has been peace and tranquillity, and our bilateral engagements have been more substantive. We have been most grateful to our leaders in Kazan who were able to set a new trend since October last,” said Doval to his Chinese counterpart.

“Our prime minister will be leaving for the SCO summit shortly, and therefore these SRlevel talks assume a very special importance.”

Responding to Doval, the Chinese foreign minister stated that the “setbacks we experienced over the past few years were not in the interests of our two countries.” He added that a “healthy and stable” India-China relationship was not just in the long term interests of both countries but was something that all “developing nations wanted to see.”

China Sees Growth Opportunity in Ties with India

“The bilateral relationship has an important opportunity for growth. The Chinese side attaches great importance to the Prime Minister’s visit to China for the SCO summit. We believe India can make a significant contribution to the summit…History and reality prove once again that a healthy and stable China-India relationship serves the long-term interests of both countries. It is also what the developing countries want to see.”

After his meeting with Doval, the Chinese foreign minister also called upon Prime Minister Modi later in the day.

The meeting between the NSA and the Chinese foreign minister comes as a spate of CBMs will be announced as Prime Minister Modi gets set to travel to Tianjin for the SCO summit at the end of the month. China has confirmed that direct flights between the two countries will be resumed after five years. And in another welcome move, restrictions on pilgrims for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra have been eased by the two countries.

New Delhi has confirmed that border trade has resumed through all the designated trade points,including the Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand, Shipki La Pass in Himachal Pradesh, and Nathu La Pass in Sikkim.

MEA sources say China has agreed to remove trade restrictions on rare earths, magnets and minerals, and tunnel boring machines. This assurance had reportedly been given by the Chinese foreign minister to the external affairs minister when Jaishankar had asked Wang about it. If enacted, this move will give India’s automobile sector muchneeded relief. Rare earths are essential for the making of cars, and government statistics show India imports 90% of its rare earths from China.

Former ambassador and China expert Ashok Kantha says that the visit, while welcome, means much still needs to be worked out between the two countries. “We have to wait and see how the relationship moves beyond the SCO summit. India and China have many unresolved issues. One of which is the Chinese announcement of the megadam project on the Yarlung Tsangpo (upper reaches of the Brahmaputra) River. This announcement was made without consulting India and has serious implications for us. We also have to remember that the Pakistan-China cooperation went beyond military hardware in Operation Sindoor. There was a significant level of battlefield collusion.”