Stand-off on 70th anniversary of India-China relations

The stand-off on the India-China disputed boundary and the violent face-off between the soldiers of the two nations ironically came in a year New Delhi and Beijing were planning to hold a series of events to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations.

India and China established diplomatic relations on April 1, 1950. The two sides had planned to hold 70 events in 2020-21 to commemorate its 70th anniversary.

Read: At least 20 Indian Army personnel martyred in face-off with China in Ladakh

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their second “informal summit” in Chennai, they had discussed about the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

New Delhi and Beijing, however, had to postpone all such events in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“India and China are two ancient civilizations, with a long history of mutually beneficial exchanges over centuries,” Modi had written to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on April 1 last.

Follow live updates on India-China border tension

“Today, we are two large developing countries and emerging economies who are increasingly playing an important role on the global landscape. As such, good relations between India and China are conducive not only for our respective countries, but are also important from the perspective of peace, stability and prosperity of our region and the world," he added.

Li had written to Modi that China was ready to join hands with India to build on the momentum created by this 70th anniversary (of establishment of diplomatic relations) to work for new progress in strategic and cooperative partnership between the two nations.

Xi had also sent a message to President Ram Nath Kovind, noting that India and China had established a strategic and cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity and were working to build a closer developmental partnership. Kovind had written to Xi that the India and China had made considerable progress especially in the last few years in enhancing bilateral engagement in a number of areas, including political, economic and people-to-people ties.