Jaishankar-Qin meet: India stresses resolving outstanding issues on LAC, China calls for raising mutual trust

India stressed on mutual withdrawal of the front-line troops from the remaining face-off points along its Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China in eastern Ladakh, as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his counterpart from the communist country, Qin Gang, had a meeting in Goa on Thursday.

Jaishankar hosted Qin for a bilateral meeting ahead of the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s Council of Foreign Ministers at Benaulim in south Goa on Friday.

“A detailed discussion with State Councillor and FM Qin Gang of China on our bilateral relationship,” the external affairs minister tweeted after the meeting with his counterpart from the neighbouring communist country. “Focus remains on resolving outstanding issues and ensuring peace and tranquillity in the border areas,” he posted, adding that the discussion also covered the SCO, G20 and BRICS.

India is currently chairing the SCO as well as the G20 and will host the summits of both blocs – in July and September. The 15th summit of the BRICS – a bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – will take place in Durban in South Africa in August.

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Qin, who arrived in Panaji on Thursday, also attended an event to pay tribute to Dr Dwarkanath Kotnis, who had, in 1938, volunteered to travel from India to the battlefields of China to provide medical care to soldiers wounded in the second Sino-Japanese war.

“We should inherit and carry forward the spirit of Dr Kotnis, firmly be the defender of peace and friendship between China and India, inherit and carry forward the non-governmental friendship, continuously increase the communication and exchanges between the 1.4 billion Chinese people and the 1.4 billion Indian people, and explore a path of peaceful coexistence between the two major neighbouring countries,” he said, emphasising on the need to “enhance mutual trust, strengthen cooperation, jointly protect the common interests of developing countries, and jointly defend international fairness and justice”.

This is Qin’s second visit to India after he succeeded Wang Yi as the foreign minister of China. He and Jaishankar had held a bilateral meeting in New Delhi on March 2 last on the sideline of the meeting of the G20 foreign ministers. Jaishankar had then told Qin that the relations between India and China continued to be ‘abnormal’ due to the continuing stand-off along the LAC in eastern Ladakh.

The talks between Jaishankar and Qin on Thursday came just a week after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh hosted his counterpart from Beijing, Li Shangfu, for a bilateral meeting in New Delhi on the sideline of a conclave of the SCO Defence Ministers on April 28.

Singh had told Li that the development of relations between India and China was premised on the prevalence of peace and tranquillity at the borders. He had added that all issues at the LAC should be resolved in accordance with the existing bilateral agreements and commitments. He had reiterated that violation of existing agreements had “eroded the entire basis of bilateral relations” and disengagement at the border would logically be followed with de-escalation.

Jaishankar also conveyed the same message to Qin in Goa on Thursday.