China seeks to ‘enhance political trust’ as top diplomat Wang Yi visits India

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - China on Monday said Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s trip to New Delhi was an opportunity to “enhance” political trust with India as the two Himalayan neighbors discuss disputed border issues.

Beijing “is willing to take the opportunity” of Wang's visit to India to “work together with the Indian side in implementing the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges, enhance political mutual trust, strengthen practical cooperation, properly manage differences, and promote the sustained, healthy, and stable development of China-India relations,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters in the Chinese capital.

It is Wang’s first trip to the world’s most populous nation since 2022, as bilateral ties deteriorated since the fall of 2019, leading to the death of some 24 soldiers along the Line of Actual Control in the Ladakh region of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir in May 2020.

However, the two sides have recently taken several steps to normalize the ties, de-escalate at the borders, leading to a meeting between China’s President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last October on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Russia's southwestern city of Kazan.

During his three-day trip, Wang, as the special representative on the China-India boundary question, will hold the 24th round of talks with the Indian national security adviser, Ajit Doval.

Modi is expected to pay an official visit to China at the end of this month, where he will also attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization leaders.