New Delhi: China's foreign minister Wang Yi arrived in India on Thursday in the first high-level visit by a Chinese official in more than two years since the standoff between the two nations in eastern Ladakh. Wang Yi is expected to meet Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and NSA Ajit Doval on Friday.
The border issue is likely to figure extensively in the meeting between Wang and Doval. India is expected to press for complete disengagement of troops from all the first points in the eastern Ladakh region, PTI reported.
It was China that had sent a proposal to India for a visit to New Delhi by Wang as part of his tour of the region, people familiar with the development had told news agency PTI said last week.
Before landing in India, Wang Yi made a surprise stop in Kabul on Thursday to meet Afghanistan's Taliban rulers, even as the international community continues to cease ties with the new regime.
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The visit by the Chinese foreign minister comes amid a fresh controversy over Wang Yi's statement on Kashmir at the OIC opening ceremony in Islamabad on Tuesday.
"On the Kashmir issue, we have heard the voices of many Islamic friends again today and China has the same desire for this," Wang Yi had said at the OIC meet.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that other countries, including China, had no locus standi to comment on India's internal matters and that they should note that India refrains from public judgement of their internal issues.
The eastern Ladakh border standoff between India and China erupted on May 5, 2020, following a clash in the Pangong lake areas. On June 15, 2020, a violent face-off between the armies of India and China led to the death of 20 Indian soldiers. Chinese People's Liberation Army lost 42 soldiers in the clash, an Australian newspaper has claimed.
India and China have held a series of diplomatic and military talks to resolve the eastern Ladakh row. Jaishankar and Wang Yi have held several rounds of talks in Moscow and Dushanbe to defuse tensions.
In September 2020, Jaishankar and Wang held extensive talks in Moscow on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting during which they reached a five-point agreement to resolve the border row.
The pact included measures like quick disengagement of troops, avoiding action that could escalate tensions, adherence to all agreements and protocols on border management and steps to restore peace along the LAC.
So far, the two sides have completed the disengagement process in the north and south banks of the Pangong lake and in the Gogra area. Each side currently has around 50,000 to 60,000 troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
(With PTI inputs)