After NSA Doval and Rajnath Singh, EAM Jaishankar to visit China next week to attend SCO meeting

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar will be on a three day visit to China starting July 13, sources in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) revealed on Friday.

They stated that EAM Jaishankar will begin his China visit from Beijing and then visit Tianjin for the Foreign Minister’s Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member countries. China is the current Chair of the grouping.

While the External Affairs Minister has met his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of multilateral events, this would be his first trip to China since bilateral relations were severely strained following the violent Galwan Valley face-off between the soldiers of the two countries at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in June 2020.

The breakthrough came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a significant bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping – the first at the delegation level in nearly five years – in the Russian city of Kazan on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in October 2023.

At the meeting, 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.

Since then, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri have visited Beijing to hold in-depth discussions on several complex issues.

Addressing the 20th meeting of the Security Council Secretaries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Member States in Beijing last month, NSA Doval said that India is deeply concerned about continued threat from terror groups designated by United Nations Security Council (UNSC), including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) — two of the most dangerous and state-supported terror outfits operating out of Pakistan – besides Al Qaeda, ISIS and its affiliates.

Spotlighting the barbaric Pahalgam terror attack and India’s subsequent Operation Sindoor to dismantle terror infrastructure across the border, the National Security Advisor called for the urgent need to shun double standards in the fight against terrorism and take decisive actions against UN-proscribed terrorists and entities.

During his visit, NSA Doval also met with Wang Yi, Member, Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.

“During the meeting, both sides reviewed recent developments in India-China bilateral relations and underscored the need to promote the overall development of the India-China bilateral relations, including by fostering greater people to people ties. NSA also emphasised the need to counter terrorism in all its forms and manifestations to maintain overall peace and stability in the region. Views were also exchanged on other bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest,” read a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

Almost around the same time, Defence Minister Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart Admiral Dong Jun on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers’ meeting in Qingdao. The two Ministers held in-depth discussions on the need to maintain peace and tranquility along the Indo-China border.

“Raksha Mantri acknowledged the work being undertaken by both sides to bring back semblance of normalcy in the bilateral relations. He highlighted the necessity of solving the complex issues through a structured roadmap of permanent engagement and de-escalation,” the Ministry of Defence stated.

Appreciating the resumption of Kailash Manasarovar yatra after a gap of five years, Defence Minister Singh also highlighted the important milestone of reaching 75 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

IANS