India and China have taken a series of people-centric measures to stabilize and rebuild their relationship following an agreement made last October to ease tensions along the border, after Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri’s two-day visit to Beijing that ended on Monday.
These measures to normalise the relationship include an in-principle agreement to restart direct air services, resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, revive mechanisms for trans-border rivers, and increase people-to-people exchanges.
The two sides have also agreed to several commemorative activities to mark the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, said a release from the External Affairs Ministry.
“The two sides agreed to take appropriate measures to further promote and facilitate people-to-people exchanges, including media and think-tank interactions. They agreed in principle to resume direct air services between the two countries; the relevant technical authorities on the two sides will meet and negotiate an updated framework for this purpose at an early date”, the release said.
“As agreed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at their meeting in Kazan in October, Foreign Secretary and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong reviewed the state of India-China bilateral relations comprehensively and agreed to take certain people-centric steps to stabilize and rebuild ties”, it said.
It was decided to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra this summer. The relevant mechanism will discuss the modalities for organizing the yatra in accordance with existing agreements. The two sides also agreed to hold an early meeting of the India-China Expert Level Mechanism to discuss the resumption of the provision of hydrological data and other cooperation about trans-border rivers.
“Specific concerns in the economic and trade areas were discussed with a view to resolving these issues and promoting long-term policy transparency and predictability,” the release said.
Since India and China reached an understanding on the disengagement of forces on October 21 last year, and with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping meeting just two days later in Kazan in Russia, the two sides have revitalised several mechanisms to address their long-standing border dispute and build trust normalise relations, which had fallen to a new low.
In recent weeks, the foreign and defence ministers of both countries have met on the sidelines of multilateral meetings, and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval visited Beijing in December for a meeting of the Special Representatives on the border issue.
During his visit, Foreign Secretary called Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and Minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China Liu Jianchao. China and India should focus on “mutual support and mutual achievement” rather than “suspicion” and “alienation,” Wang said during the meeting between the two officials, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s readout.
Wang stressed that the two sides should “meet each other halfway” and “commit to mutual understanding and mutual support,” while avoiding “mutual suspicion and mutual alienation,” according to a Mandarin readout from China’s foreign ministry. There was no official comment from the Indian side on the meeting.
Wang also said that the “improvement and development of China-India relations is fully in line with the fundamental interests of the two countries” and would be “conducive to safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of Global South countries.”
