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China’s foreign policy chief Wang Yi tells India border dispute should not define relationship
- Wang urges Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishanka to ease restrictions on Chinese companies and focus on ‘common interests’
- The border stand-off has been rumbling on for three years after a deadly clash between soldiers along the disputed Himalayan frontier
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China’s top diplomat Wang Yi has urged India to ease restrictions on Chinese investment, adding that issues such as the ongoing border stand-off “should not define the overall relationship” between the two countries.
Wang made the appeal at a meeting with India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on the sidelines of a regional gathering of foreign ministers in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, adding that New Delhi should focus on “common interests” and meet China “halfway” to defuse border tensions.
Despite expectations that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet face-to-face in Johannesburg next month and in New Delhi in September, the two countries have remained locked in a military stand-off since a fatal clash on their disputed Himalayan border in June 2020.
There have been few signs that either side is ready to back down on the highly charged issue, despite dozens of military talks over the past three years and multiple high-level exchanges this year.
Relations were further strained when Modi pledged to strengthen military ties with Washington during a trip to the White House last month.
Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who has been out of public view since June 25, missed the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings in Indonesia for “health reasons”, according to the Chinese foreign ministry. Wang, Qin’s predecessor and now Xi’s top foreign policy aide, stepped in for him.
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