All border issues between India and China need to be resolved per existing bilateral agreements and commitments, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu on Thursday, amid simmering tensions over a border dispute in the Himalayas.
Li, who took the post last month, was in the Indian capital on a two-day visit to attend a defense ministers meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on Friday, along with counterparts from Russia and Central Asian nations.
This is the first time a Chinese defense minister has visited India since a 2020 clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers in the Galwan Valley in the border area along their mountain border — which left 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers dead.
Singh “categorically” conveyed to Li that “development of relations between India and China is premised on prevalence of peace and tranquility at the borders,” according to a meeting readout from New Delhi.
Singh reiterated to Li that a “violation” of existing agreements by the Chinese side has “eroded the entire basis of bilateral relations,” adding that “disengagement at the border will logically be followed with de-escalation.”
The two ministers had “frank discussions” about the developments in the border areas, as well as bilateral relations, according to the readout.
A Chinese government account of the talks, posted on Friday, noted that Li said the border situation is “generally stable.” He advocated taking a “long-term view” and placing the border issue “in an appropriate position in bilateral relations,” working toward mutual trust between the militaries and “normalized management” of the area.
After the Galwan clash, ties between the two countries have been on a downward spiral — with tensions escalating further in December last year when their troops clashed in Tawang region of India’s northeastern Arunachal Pradesh state, which China claims as its territory. Injuries were reported on both sides.
It was the first major clash along the 3,500-kilometer Line of Actual Control, the de facto India-China border, since the Galwan fighting.
The nuclear-armed countries fought a brief war in 1962 over their disputed boundary.
Singh will chair the Friday meeting of the eight-member SCO in New Delhi, in which his counterparts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan will participate along with China. Pakistan will join the summit virtually.
India has also invited Belarus and Iran, which hold observer status in the SCO, to take part in the meeting. Topics of discussion will include regional peace and security, counterterrorism efforts and multilateralism.
This year, India is the chair of the SCO, an intergovernmental organization established in 2001. An SCO foreign ministers meeting is also scheduled to take place next week in the western Indian state of Goa.
Ahead of Li’s New Delhi visit, India and China on Sunday held an 18th round of military talks to try to ease tensions in the border dispute.
“In the interim, the two sides agreed to maintain the security and stability on the ground” in the border area, according to a statement issued by India’s Ministry of External Affairs on Monday.
Beijing said after the military talks that the countries “agreed to maintain close contact and dialogue through military and diplomatic channels, speed up the settlement of relevant issues on the western section of the China-India boundary, and continue to safeguard the peace and tranquility in the border areas.”
Li, a general and veteran of China’s drive to modernize its military, this month met Russian President Vladimir Putin in his first overseas trip as defense minister. During the meeting in Moscow, the two sides vowed to strengthen their military cooperation.
Li, who was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2018 over the purchase of Russian weapons, visited Moscow amid Western pressure against Beijing to urge the Kremlin to end the war in Ukraine. (Nikkei Asia)