The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: China confirmed on Tuesday, April 25, that Chinese defence minister Li Shangfu will be visiting India for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s meeting next week. Besides, China also said that it has agreed with India to “speed up the settlement” of the differences on the military stand-off at Ladakh.
On Tuesday, the Chinese defence ministry issued two separate notices related to India. It announced that the defence minister “will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers’ Meeting to be held on April 27 and 28 in New Delhi upon invitation”.
“General Li will address the meeting and meet with heads of delegations from relevant countries to exchange views on the international and regional situation as well as defence and security cooperation,” said the statement.
China also issued a press note on the 18th round of India-china corps commander level talks, two days after it took place on Sunday, April 23, and one day after India had already sent out a public readout.
Unlike the 17th round of talks, there was no joint press statement by the two sides.
The Indian press note emphasised twice that the talks were “candid”, “frank” and “open, but it was clear that there was no breakthrough.
The Chinese statement also noted that there was a “friendly and candid exchange of views on relevant issues”.
At the same time, China also additionally added that both sides had agreed to “speed up the settlement of relevant issues on the western section of the China-India boundary”. There was no similar phrase in the Indian statement, though it also the Ladakh stand-off as “relevant issues along the LAC in the Western Sector”.
It was a reflection likely of Beijing’s position that the remaining friction points of Demchok and Depsang are not part of the current military stand-off, but a part of the legacy boundary dispute. India has, however, insisted that the two points have to be resolved before the two-year-old stand-off can be declared over and relations normalised.
India had reiterated in the MEA press note that “progress in bilateral relations” is conditioned on the restoration of “peace and tranquillity” along with LAC in Eastern Ladakh.
India and China have held multiple rounds of diplomatic and military talks after troop clashes in Galwan Valley in June 2020 led to the first fatalities at the border in over forty years.
Just like the two statements, there is not much expectation that the visit of the Chinese defence minister will lead to any breakthrough. He is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with defence minister Rajnath Singh.
As a founder member, China considers the SCO, headquartered in Beijing, as a key bulwark against other multilateral associations which are dominated by the West. Incidentally, Pakistan defence minister Asif Khwaja, a key Chinese ally, will take part in the defence ministers’ meeting, but only virtually. However, Pakistan has confirmed the visit of foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto for the SCO foreign ministers meeting in Goa.