Chinese, Indian foreign ministers hold bilateral talks as G20 meeting ends in disarray

The engagement between two senior diplomats from neighbouring countries is of importance, given that they have been locked in a border stand-off since June 2020
The visit, on the sidelines of the G20, comes at a time of geopolitical turmoil with heightened suspicions between Western democracies on the war in Ukraine

India

Kunal PurohitandReuters

Published: 9:23pm, 2 Mar 2023

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China’s new foreign minister Qin Gang on Thursday held his first face-to-face talks with Indian counterpart S Jaishankar on the sidelines of a G20 summit, where deepening rifts among the world’s biggest economies over the Ukraine-Russia war were on display.

The 45-minute engagement between the two senior diplomats come as India and China continue to be locked in a border stand-off, a row that remains unresolved since June 2020 despite multiple discussions.

Jaishankar said the border dispute featured prominently in the talks.

“The thrust of the meeting was on the bilateral relationship and on the challenges in the relationship, especially on the peace and tranquility in the border areas,” he said at a media briefing after the meeting.

China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Thursday held his first face-to-face talks with Indian counterpart S Jaishankar on the sidelines of a G20 summit. Photo: EPA-EFE

On the eve of Qin’s visit, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning had said China “valued” its ties with India. “China and India are ancient civilisations and both have more than one billion people,” she said. “A sound China-India relationship meets the fundamental interests of both countries and peoples.”

The visit comes at a time of geopolitical turmoil, with heightened suspicions between Western democracies – led by the US – and Russia and China, on the issue of the war in Ukraine.

India had wanted its G20 presidency this year to focus on issues such as alleviating poverty and climate finance, but Russia’s war with Ukraine had crowded out other agenda items.

Jaishankar told a press conference that ministers at the G20 meeting had been unable to reach a joint declaration owing to divisions over the war in Ukraine. “On the issue, which very frankly concerned Ukraine conflict, there were divergences, there were differences, which we couldn’t reconcile between various parties,” he said.

Why Ukraine should stop criticising India and other well-meaning supporters

In the inaugural speech of the summit, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not directly refer to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and instead exhorted the ministers in a veiled comment to overlook “deep global divisions”, adding that the meeting must focus on “what unites us, not what divides us”.

“It is but natural that your discussions are affected by the geopolitical tensions of the day. We all have our positions and perspectives of how these tensions should be resolved,” Modi said, without naming Russia or Ukraine. Jaishankar, too, in his opening speech in the meeting, did not refer to the war directly.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, addressing the meeting, blamed Russia for the lack of consensus. “Unfortunately, this meeting has again been marred by Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine, deliberate campaign of destruction against civilian targets, and its attack on the core principles of the UN Charter,” he said.

The US has accused China of considering supplying arms to its Russian ally, and Western delegates were expected to use the foreign ministers’ summit to discourage Beijing from intervening in the conflict.

02:06

Beijing urges West to ‘stop throwing blame at China’ over Ukraine

Meanwhile, even though there was no joint statement, the Presidential Palace, where the meeting was held, saw hectic global diplomacy on Thursday.

Lavrov held bilateral meetings with Jaishankar, as well as with Qin. Jaishankar also held bilateral meetings with Blinken as well as with Borrell, on Wednesday.

The most surprising, unannounced meeting came in the form of a meeting between Blinken and Lavrov. Russian spokesperson Maria Zakharova confirmed the meeting but declined to call it a “full-fledged” meeting but just a “contact”.

“Blinken asked for ‘contact’ with Foreign Minister Lavrov during the second session, but there were no talks or full-fledged meeting,” she told reporters.

Thursday was the first time that the two ministers were in the same room since July.

Russia issued a strongly-worded statement following the meeting between Lavrov and Qin on the sidelines of the G20 meeting.

“A unanimous rejection was expressed of attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, to impose unilateral approaches through blackmail and threats, and to oppose the democratisation of international relations,” the Russian foreign ministry said.