NEW DELHI: The recent thaw in ties was on display again as external affairs minister S Jaishankar met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and talked up cooperation between the two countries on regional and multilateral forums like G20, SCO and Brics, while stressing the importance of restoring mutual trust in bilateral ties and jointly maintaining border peace.
Jaishankar spoke about “notable developments” since their last meeting in Rio in Nov, but China went a step further in its readout and said exchanges at all levels had been restored. Jaishankar and Wang met on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in Johannesburg. Jaishankar told Wang in a polarised global situation, India and China have worked hard to preserve and protect the G20 as an institution. “This in itself testifies to the importance of international cooperation,” the EAM said, adding platforms like G20 provided an opportunity for talks even when ties were going through a difficult phase. Besides, issues like resumption of Kailash Mansarovar yatra, direct air services, trans-border river cooperation and travel facilitation were discussed. This was the latest in a series of high-level engagements between India and China, including visits to Beijing by NSA Ajit Doval and foreign secretary Vikram Misri, since the Oct 21 agreement last year to complete the military disengagement process in eastern Ladakh and the meeting between PM Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping two days later in Kazan. Jaishankar is likely to visit China later this year, followed by the summit that Beijing expects Modi to attend.