New Delhi, Jan 23: Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri will be visiting Beijing on January 26-27 for a meeting of the Foreign Secretary-Vice Minister mechanism between India and China, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Thursday.
“The resumption of this bilateral mechanism flows from the agreement at the leadership level to discuss the next steps for India-China relations, including in the political, economic, and people-to-people domains,” read a statement issued by the MEA.
Last month, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval had travelled to Beijing to meet Chinese Vice President Han Zheng. During the meeting, NSA Doval had emphasised that the resumption of the meeting between special representatives of both countries for the boundary question after an interval of five years is an important move to implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, and is of great significance for advancing bilateral relations.
India and China had also decided to give “positive directions” for cross-border cooperation and exchanges, including resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, data sharing on trans-border rivers and border trade, during the 23d meeting of the Special Representatives (SRs) of India and China which was attended by NSA Doval and Wang Yi, Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The two representatives had met in accordance with the decision taken during the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Russian city of Kazan on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in October 2024 which decided the future course of meetings to oversee the management of peace and tranquillity in border areas and to explore a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the boundary question.
PM Modi had conveyed it to the Chinese President that India-China ties have to be based on three mutuals – mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual sensitivity – if they have to return to a positive trajectory and remain sustainable. “We welcome the consensus reached on issues that have arisen on the India-China border in the last four years.
Maintaining peace and stability on the border should remain our top priority. Mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual sensitivity form the basis of our relations,” said PM Modi following the significant bilateral meeting with Xi Jinping – the first at the delegation level in nearly five years.
IANS