Ready to work with all parties for success of G20 Summit hosted by India: China

Though the Chinese People’s Liberation Army is still blocking the Indian Army’s access to several patrolling points along the LAC in eastern Ladakh, Beijing on Tuesday claimed that its relations with New Delhi have been stable.

Though the Chinese People’s Liberation Army is still blocking the Indian Army’s access to several patrolling points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, Beijing on Tuesday claimed that its relations with New Delhi have been stable.

Even though President Xi Jinping won’t be attending the G20 summit in New Delhi, China stated that it was “ready to work with all parties to make the G20 summit (being hosted by India) a success”. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host the 18th summit of the G20 leaders at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on Saturday and Sunday.

Beijing on Monday confirmed that the Chinese President would give the summit a miss and Premier Li Qiang would lead the delegation of the communist party in the conclave in New Delhi.

Xi’s decision to skip the summit in New Delhi and downgrade the participation of China in it fuelled speculations about his government’s diminishing interests in engaging with the G20 and its attempt to undermine India’s bid to use the intergovernmental forum’s presidency to project itself as a rising global power.

“The G20 is the premier forum for international economic cooperation. China always attaches high importance to and actively participates in relevant activities. We support India in hosting this year’s summit,” China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning said when a journalist asked her during a media briefing in Beijing if Xi’s decision to skip the summit in New Delhi “reflected the tension between China and India.”

“Currently,” she added, “China-India relations are generally stable, with dialogue and communication maintained at all levels. The improvement and development of China-India relations are in the common interests of both countries and their people. We are willing to work with India to promote the improvement and development of bilateral relations.”

The aggressive moves by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to unilaterally change the status quo along the LAC in eastern Ladakh and the resistance and counter-deployment by the Indian Army in April-May 2020 had started a military stand-off in the Himalayas. The relations between the two nations had hit a new low after the stand-off had reached a flashpoint with the violent clash between the soldiers of the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA in Galwan Valley on June 15, 2020.

Though protracted negotiations led to the mutual withdrawal of troops by both the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA from some of the face-off points along the LAC, like Galwan Valley, the northern and southern banks of Pangong Tso, Gogra Post and Hot Springs, the stand-off could not be resolved completely so far.

The PLA troops deployed in Depsang, well inside the territory of India along the LAC with China, are still continuing to block the Indian Army’s access to Patrolling Points 10, 11, 12, 12A and 13. A face-off is also continuing in Demchok.

Beijing has of late been claiming that the mutual withdrawal of troops by the Chinese PLA and the Indian Army from Patrolling Point 15 (Gogra-Hotsprings area) in September 2022 marked the restoration of normalcy along the LAC in eastern Ladakh. China’s claim appears to be an attempt to subtly build up pressure on India to accept the “new normal” in the Depsang and Demchok areas.