China and India must “transcend the bilateral dimension” of their ties for stability in Asia and the world, said National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and China’s State Counsellor Yang Jiechi in their first boundary talks since the Doklam standoff. They discussed enhancing confidence-building measu- res and an “early settlem- ent” of the boundary issue, a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs said.
The 20th round of Special Representative talks, which officials said were held in New Delhi on Thursday under an extended mandate, referred repeatedly to the consensus reached by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the subject of bettering ties.
“We know that President Xi and (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi met this year in Xiamen and reached an important consensus. So the special representatives meeting [followed] the consensus of the state leaders … so as to achieve win-win cooperation and mutual benefits,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in Beijing in an interaction on Friday.
The consensus between the two leaders at Xiamen and on the sidelines of the SCO conference in Astana in June underscored the need to prevent differences from becoming disputes, as well as the need for China and India to maintain an island of stability in an increasingly unpredictable global scenario.
Separately, a carefully worded MEA statement said that, “The [SRs] underlined the need for the two countries to build on their convergences, while seeking mutually acceptable resolutions of their differences with due respect for each other’s sensitivities, concerns and aspirations,” referring indirectly to tensions over Chinese troops’ transgressions in the Doklam area that led to a 70-day standoff, China’s support to Pakistan on designating JeM chief as a UN terrorist, as well as the Belt and Road Initiative and China Pakistan Economic Corridor, which India has opposed.
All issues were discussed by the two sides, officials said. The meeting also comes after a quadrilateral meeting of India-US-Japan-Australia, which China had expressed concerns about. Mr. Yang’s visit acquires additional significance as his stature has risen in China’s official hierarchy following the recent 19th Party Congress. Unlike Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who continues his presence in the Central Committee of the CPCMr. Yang has been elevated to the 25-member Politburo.
