EAM, Wang look to boost relations amid global flux

India and China need a “candid and constructive” approach based on mutual respect and sensitivity to drive their relations after a difficult period, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Monday, reiterating New Delhi's call to take forward the deescalation process along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), amid the so-called elephant-dragon tango assuming additional significance in the backdrop of the ongoing geopolitical and economic flux caused by the trade policies of the Donald Trump-led US administration.

- Rezaul H Laskar

Besides discussing economic and trade issues, river data sharing, border trade, connectivity and bilateral exchanges at a meeting with visiting Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, Jaishankar brought up “particular concerns” he had raised at his last meeting with his counterpart in Beijing in July.

Wang, who is on a two-day visit for talks with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval under the Special Representatives mechanism on Tuesday, is the first Chinese minister to travel to India since the two sides reached an understanding last October to end the military standoff on the LAC that began in April-May 2020. The face-off and a brutal clash in Galwan Valley in June 2020 took bilateral ties to a six-decade low.

“Having seen a difficult period in our relationship... our two nations now seek to move ahead. This requires a candid and constructive approach on both sides. In that endeavour, we must be guided by the three mutuals mutual respect, mutual sensitivity, and mutual interest," Jaishankar said at the start of his meeting with Wang.