SEOUL, November 21 (AJP) - The foreign ministers of India and China met on the sidelines of the G20 Summit and reaffirmed their commitment to improving bilateral relations.
According to China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Monday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where the G20 Summit took place.
Yi said that the recent meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kazan, Russia, marked a new starting point for China-India relations. He emphasized the importance of enhancing mutual trust, reducing suspicion and skepticism, increasing cooperation, and minimizing discord.
Minister Jaishankar highlighted progress in implementing the summit's consensus, emphasizing India's readiness to restart dialogue mechanisms and enhance communication to sustain improved relations. He noted that shared understanding between India and China outweighs differences and called for a strategic approach to their relationship. India opposes unilateralism, rejects military alliances, supports democratizing international relations, and seeks stronger coordination with China in multilateral platforms like the G20 and BRICS.
Despite fighting a war over border disputes in 1962, India and China have yet to finalize their border, and they remain divided by the 3,488-kilometer Line of Actual Control (LAC).
In 2020, tensions escalated in the Ladakh region when violent skirmishes between soldiers from both sides resulted in dozens of fatalities. These clashes, which involved hand-to-hand combat and improvised weapons such as clubs and stones, marked a significant deterioration in relations between the two countries.
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