Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Image used for representational purpose only.
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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

India and China should handle the bilateral ties from a “strategic height and long-term perspective” while implementing the common understanding reached by the leaders of the two countries, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday (January 21, 2025).

The Ministry was reacting to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s recent remarks that the India-China relationship is trying to disentangle itself from the complications arising from the post-2020 border situation and more thought needs to be given to the longer-term evolution of the ties.

“We need to view and handle the bilateral relations from a strategic height and long-term perspective, bring the relations back to the track of healthy and stable development, and find the right path for big, neighbouring countries to live in harmony and develop side by side,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a media briefing in Beijing.

Also read | India, China have set ties on right track: Jaishankar

Delving into various aspects of New Delhi’s relations with Beijing over past decades, Mr. Jaishankar in his Nani Palkhivala memorial lecture in Mumbai on January 18 said, “misreadings” by past policymakers, whether driven by “idealism or absence of realpolitik”, has helped neither cooperation nor competition with China.

That has changed in the last decade, he said, adding that mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual sensitivity should remain the basis of the relationship between the two sides. He said that more thought needs to be given to the longer-term evolution of ties.

Responding to a question on Mr. Jaishankar’s remarks, Mr. Guo said that as two major time-honoured civilizations, developing countries and emerging economies, China and India need to focus on development and engage in cooperation.

Also read | A slow return: On border tensions and India-China ties 

This serves the fundamental interests of over 2.8 billion people of the two countries, meets the common aspiration of regional countries and peoples, goes along with the historical trend of the Global South growing stronger, and is conducive to peace and prosperity of the region and the wider world, he said.

“The two sides need to earnestly deliver on the important common understandings reached between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in their meeting in Kazan, including that China and India are each other’s development opportunities rather than threats, and cooperation partners rather than competitors. In global affairs, the two sides need to remain committed to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, practice true multilateralism, advocate an equal and orderly multipolar world and universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, and make a greater contribution to world peace, stability, development and prosperity,” he said.

India and China agreed to take measures to further ease the situation at the borders while continuing to implement the October agreement to resolve the standoff in eastern Ladakh comprehensively, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said a day after talks in New Delhi.
| Photo Credit: PTI

India and China agreed to take measures to further ease the situation at the borders while continuing to implement the October agreement to resolve the standoff in eastern Ladakh comprehensively, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said a day after talks in New Delhi.

China and India held the 32nd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on China-India Border Affairs (WMCC) on Thursday (December 5, 2024) in New Delhi, and the two sides agreed to maintain communication through diplomatic and military channels, and safeguard sustainable peace and stability in the border areas.

Both sides positively assessed the solutions reached on border-related issues and agreed to continue implementing them comprehensively and effectively, while taking measures to further ease the border situation, a press release issued by the Ministry in Beijing on Friday (December 6, 2024).

​Over the borderline: On the India-China deal 

This is the first meeting of WMCC after the October 21 agreement between the two countries to resolve the over four yearlong military standoff in eastern Ladakh that had brought the relations between the two countries to a standstill.

Following the important consensus reached by the leaders of both countries, the meeting focused on preparations for the next round of Special Representatives’ talks on the China-India border issue, it said.

The two sides also agreed to continue leveraging the role of the border negotiation mechanism, maintaining communication through diplomatic and military channels, and safeguarding sustainable peace and stability in the border areas, the release said.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), in its press release on the talks on Thursday, said both sides reflected on the lessons learnt from the eastern Ladakh border row in order to prevent such face-offs in future.

Also at Thursday’s WMCC the two sides agreed to maintain peace and tranquillity in border areas in line with bilateral pacts and protocols.

The two sides also prepared for the next meeting of the Special Representatives on the boundary question.

“The two sides positively affirmed the implementation of the most recent disengagement agreement which completed the resolution of the issues that emerged in 2020,” the MEA release said.

The eastern Ladakh military standoff between India and China began in May 2020 and a deadly clash at the Galwan Valley in June that year resulted in a severe strain in ties between the two neighbours.

The face-off effectively ended following completion of the disengagement process from the last two friction points of Demchok and Depsang under an agreement finalised on October 21.

Two days after the pact was firmed up, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks on the sidelines of the Brics Summit in the Russian city of Kazan.

In the meeting, the two sides agreed to revive several dialogue mechanisms including the Special Representatives dialogue on boundary questions.

India’s Special Representative for the dialogue is NSA Ajit Doval while the Chinese side is headed at the talks by Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

“They also prepared for the next meeting of the Special Representatives, which is to be held in accordance with the decision of the two leaders in their meeting in Kazan on October 23,” the MEA said on the WMCC talks.

It said “both sides reviewed the situation in border areas, and reflected on the lessons learnt from the events of 2020 in order to prevent their recurrence.”

“In this context, they highlighted the importance of regular exchanges and contacts at diplomatic and military level through established mechanisms.” “They agreed on the need for effective border management and maintenance of peace and tranquillity in accordance with relevant bilateral agreements, protocols and understandings reached between the two governments,” the MEA added.

The Indian delegation at the talks was led by Gourangalal Das, Joint Secretary (East Asia) in the MEA.

The Chinese team was headed by Hong Liang, Director General of the Boundary and Oceanic Affairs Department at the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Hong also called on Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning. File
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“China firmly opposes any country allowing the Dalai Lama to make visits under any pretext,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday (August 22, 2024.)

Senior officials from the U.S. State Department and the White House met with the Dalai Lama in New York on Wednesday (August 21, 2024) and “reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to advancing the human rights of Tibetans,” the State Department said.

The meeting with the 89-year-old exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism was expected to roil China, which considers him a dangerous separatist and opposes contact with him by officials of any country.

“China has made solemn protests with the U.S.”, said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning at a regular press briefing. “We don’t allow the Dalai Lama to engage in political separatist activities in the U.S.”

Last month, China expressed strong opposition to a U.S. law signed by President Joe Biden that presses Beijing to resolve a dispute over Tibet’s demands for greater autonomy, and vowed to “firmly defend” its interests.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the “appointment of a so-called special coordinator of Tibetan issues constitutes interference in internal affairs.”

Wang Wenbin. File
| Photo Credit: ANI

Sri Lanka on October 11 welcomed China’s tentative agreement to a debt restructure, as the island nation works to restore its ruined finances after suffering its worst-ever economic crisis.

The government defaulted on its $46 billion debt last year at a time when months of food and fuel shortages were making life a misery for Sri Lanka’s 22 million people.

Beijing is the island’s largest bilateral lender and its consent is needed for any proposal by Colombo to reorganise its finances.

Deputy Finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said approval had now been granted by the state-owned Export-Import Bank of China, its official creditor. “China has issued their primary consent to restructure our debt,” he said in a statement.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters on Tuesday that the bank had “tentatively agreed” with Sri Lanka on its debt treatment in late September.

“We are also glad to see that other creditors are having discussions with Sri Lanka as well over solutions to its debt issue,” he added. Neither party shared further details of the agreement.

China holds about 52% of the South Asian nation’s bilateral credit, with Japan and India the next-biggest lenders. Beijing had in March given in-principle agreement to a restructure of its loans to Sri Lanka, the final major creditor to do so.

That decision cleared the way for a staged $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund bailout, conditional on austerity measures such as tax hikes and cuts to generous public subsidies.

But a second tranche of $330 million was delayed last month, with the IMF saying it was still reviewing “financing assurances” from creditors on the detailed debt restructure plan Colombo proposed in June.

Sri Lanka’s central bank governor Nandalal Weerasinghe is this week in Morocco for a meeting with creditor nations and the IMF that does not include China.

“The IMF’s Sri Lanka mission chief Peter Breuer said the lender had “not yet been informed about any specific agreements” with creditors,” Bloomberg reported.

At the peak of last year’s crisis, months of civil unrest forced the ouster of then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa when protesters stormed his residence.