INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
NEW DELHI: Amid a tense border situation along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, external affairs minister S Jaishankar sat down with
his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang for a bilateral meeting in New Delhi on Thursday
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the India-hosted G20 foreign ministers' meeting in the national capital."Met Chinese Foreign
Minister Qin Gang on sidelines of G20FMM this afternoon
Our discussions focused on addressing current challenges to the bilateral relationship, especially peace and tranquility in the border areas
We also spoke about the G20 agenda," tweeted the EAM after the meeting.Qin is a close aide of Chinese president Xi Jinping and is on his
first visit to India since replacing Wang Yi as the foreign minister.Military standoffThe bilateral talks come amid a continuing military
standoff between the two sides in the Ladakh sector of Line of Actual Control (LAC)
Ties between the two countries are at their lowest in the past 60 years since the brutal clash at Galwan Valley in June 2020.The meeting
also comes nearly eight months after Jaishankar talked to Wang in Bali on the sidelines of a G20 meeting
During the one-hour meeting on July 7, Jaishankar had conveyed to Wang the need for early resolution of all the outstanding issues in
eastern Ladakh.The external affairs minister had told Wang that the relationship between the two countries should be based on "three
mutuals" -- mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interests.On February 22 this year, India and China held in-person diplomatic
talks in Beijing and discussed proposals for disengagement in the remaining friction points along the LAC in eastern Ladakh in an "open and
constructive manner".The meeting took place under the framework of Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border
Affairs.(With inputs from agencies)
