Beijing: Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri arrived here on Sunday on a two-day visit during which he will hold talks with Chinese officials. This is the second high-level visit to China from India in less than one and a half months. This visit of Misri, who has been India's ambassador to China, is taking place on Republic Day and before the celebration of China's Spring Festival and Chinese New Year. This celebration will start from January 29, during which the country will officially be on holiday for a week.
Foreign Secretary Misri will travel to Beijing on January 26 and 27 "for the meeting of the Foreign Secretary-Deputy Minister mechanism between India and China," the Ministry of External Affairs announced on Thursday. In a brief statement, the ministry stated, "The resumption of this bilateral mechanism is inspired by the agreement reached at the leadership level to discuss the next steps for India-China relations, including political, economic and people-to-people contacts.
China welcomes Misri's visit
China on Friday welcomed Misri's visit and expressed a positive attitude about its outcome, saying that this development came after a series of talks between the top leaders and officials of the two countries after more than four years of stalled relations over the military standoff in Ladakh. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said in a media briefing here, "We welcome Foreign Secretary Shri Vikram Misri's visit to China for the meeting of the Foreign Secretary-Deputy Minister mechanism between China and India."
Talks possible on border dispute
Mao said that during the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia in October last year, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had reached important consensus on improving and enhancing bilateral relations. He said that recently both sides have worked to sincerely implement these common understandings. The foreign and defence ministers of China and India have met each other on several occasions.
Last month, the Special Representatives (SRs) of China and India met for the 23rd time to discuss the border problem. After a five-year break, the mechanism met for the 23rd time in December with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. The meeting ended with fruitful outcomes. According to Mao, the two sides decided during the negotiations to increase and deepen communication and to resume institutional conversations, exchanges, and cooperation in a number of areas, including quickly restoring China-India relations to a strong and stable development path.
Misri reaches China after Doval
After Doval's visit, Misri is the second high-level Indian official to visit Beijing in about a month. The two sides are expected to discuss a range of issues in the talks, including ways to reduce confrontation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh and resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.
China is proposing to resume direct flights between the two countries and facilitate issuance of visas to Chinese citizens. The decision to revive the SR mechanism and other such dialogue formats was taken during the meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi in Kazan. The Modi-Xi meeting came two days after India and China finalised an agreement to withdraw troops from Depsang and Demchok, the last two friction points in eastern Ladakh.
At the SR talks, India pressed for a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the overall border dispute between the two countries. Doval and Wang also focused on a 'positive' direction for cross-border cooperation, including resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, river data sharing and border trade.
'Relations will not be normal without peace on the border'
India has said that its relations with China cannot be normal until there is peace in the border areas. After the process of withdrawal of troops from Demchok and Depsang was completed, the Indian and Chinese armies also resumed patrolling activities in both the areas after a gap of about four and a half years.
