Chinese and Indian diplomats call for warmer relations
China and India's top diplomats have urged their respective governments to offer each other increased cooperation, yet refrained from publicly mentioning the longstanding border issue in the Himalayan Mountains.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi responded to a meeting with leading Indian chief diplomat Vikram Misri in Beijing by saying "the two sides should grasp the chance, compromise on their stances, consider additional meaningful actions, and work to comprehend, aid, and benefit from one another rather than have distrust, distance, and resentment towards each other", according to China's official news outlet Xinhua.
It appears to cite Mr Misri as saying that the two nuclear-armed Asian powers have “ Properly handled and sorted out their differences, and has promoted the restart of practical cooperation in a number of areas”.
The relationship between the two nations has remained unchanged since their leaders encountered each other at an international conference in Russia at this time last year.
Just days beforehand, India revealed that the two parties had reached an agreement on conducting joint military patrols along their contested border in the Himalayas following an escalation in tensions triggered by a fatal conflict in 2020.
The situation escalated into a prolonged standoff in the mountainous region, where both parties had deployed thousands of military personnel, accompanied by artillery, tanks, and fighter jets.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi have since restricted their joint public statements to courteous remarks without openly discussing the border.
India stated that the 2024 agreement would result in the "disengagement" of troops along the Line of Actual Control, the prolonged shared border in the Himalayas, although it remains unclear whether this implies the removal of the tens of thousands of extra troops positioned in the disputed Ladakh region along the shared border.
The Line of Actual Control marks the division between Chinese and Indian-held territories stretching from Ladakh in the west to Arunachal Pradesh in the east, an Indian state claimed by China in its entirety. India and China engaged in a fatal conflict over the border in 1962.
Both India and China have pulled troops back from areas of high tension at Pangong Tso and the Galwan Valley in the north, as well as Gogra in the south, but they are continuing to maintain a military presence at Demchok and the Depsang Plains.
Trade relations between the two countries were strained as a result of the army stand-off, with Chinese investors pulling out and several high-profile projects being put on hold.
India also barred Chinese-owned programmes, including TikTok, which is operated by the Chinese internet company Bytedance. It pointed to concerns about privacy that it claimed imperiled India's independence and safety.
Chinese goods are ubiquitous across India, encompassing everything from toys to mobile phones to intricately crafted Hindu idols.
India's relationship with China has seen significant growth in two-way trade over the past two decades, with a substantial trade deficit in favour of China. Furthermore, a considerable number of Indian professionals and students, particularly those in the medical field, have relocated to China.
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