More optics than strategy in India-China reset

Any new signs of India-China bonhomie at this point in time are driven largely by tactical rather than strategic factors.

- B.R. DEEPAK

Wang Yi, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and China's Special Representative on the Boundary Question with India, visited New Delhi from August 18 to 20 at the invitation of the Indian side to attend the 24th meeting of the China-India Special Representatives on the Boundary Question. During his three-day visit he met India's Minister of External Affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India's National Security Advisor and Special Representative, Ajit Doval, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The visit has been seen as a path breaking for resetting the frayed India-China relations.

The thaw cannot be considered sudden, for since the Galwan clashes in 2020, India and China have held 21 rounds of talks at the corps commander level, 17 rounds of meetings under the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC), as well as several rounds of discussions between the foreign ministers and national security advisors of both countries, before the "patrolling arrangement" was agreed upon and announced by Prime Minister Modi and President Xi Jinping at the BRICS Summit in Kazan in October 2024. In total, the two countries have held 24 rounds of Special Representatives' talks and 34 rounds of WMCC meetings. Ajit Doval, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar have all visited China within a span of eight months. Therefore, Wang Yi's visit could be regarded as a continuation of this momentum, albeit under a very different international environment.