Top diplomats of India, China discuss high level visits

India and China held discussions on high-level visits in the coming months as Foreign Secretary, Vijay Gokhale, met his counterpart and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister, Kong Xuanyou, in New Delhi on Friday.

"During the meeting, the two sides reviewed recent developments in bilateral relations and discussed the agenda for bilateral engagement, including high level exchanges, in the coming months," the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Friday.

Kong is currently on a visit to New Delhi. He also had a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Friday.

Modi is likely to visit China to attend the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization at Qingdao on the east coast of the communist country in June. He is likely to hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sideline of the summit.

New Delhi is also keen to host Xi or Premier Li Keqiang on a visit to India this year.

Li visited New Delhi in May 2013, while Xi did so in September 2014. Modi already visited China thrice since taking over office in May 2014.

Gokhale and Kong discussed possibility of exchange of high-level visits between the two nations during their last meeting in Beijing in February too.

New Delhi conveyed to Beijing that a high-level visit from China to India would add impetus to the efforts to mend fences and ease strains in bilateral relations.

The face-off between the Indian Army and Chinese People's Liberation Army in Doklam Plateau in western Bhutan from June 18 to August 28 brought the bilateral relations to a new low in 2017.

Gokhale and Kong on Friday also exchanged views on regional and international issues of common interest.