New Delhi: Recent high-level meetings between India and China that saw both sides make important agreements have paved the way for a “reboot” of bilateral ties, Chinese ambassador Xu Feihong said on Tuesday (February 25).
Speaking at the China-India Youth Dialogue at the Chinese embassy in Delhi, Xu was referring to the meetings between the two countries’ special representatives in December, and between India’s foreign secretary and a vice foreign minister of China’s in January, both in Beijing.
The two meetings had witnessed the reaching of a “series of common understandings on the boundary question and practical cooperation”, Xu said on Tuesday.
“This creates an important opportunity for the reboot of China-India relations” as well as a “broader platform” for exchanges between Indian and Chinese youth, said the ambassador.
The meetings occurred after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first bilateral talk after deadly clashes between their troops in eastern Ladakh in 2020, which had also triggered a military standoff that ended only when the two sides struck a deal in October.
At Tuesday’s event, Xu also suggested to youth present to serve as “envoys of correct perceptions of China and India”.
“Certain forces, who are unwilling to see the friendly coexistence of our two countries, are trying to sow discord between us,” Xu claimed.
He added to say that these forces “exaggerate the so-called ‘China threat’ and ‘China crash’ fallacies” while claiming that China does not wish for India to develop.
“I hope the young people could maintain an open and rational mindset, and not be trapped in the ‘information cocoon’ or misled by negative perspectives,” the envoy said, maintaining that some Indians only learn about China through certain ‘prejudiced’ Western media reports.
Tuesday’s youth dialogue, which was jointly organised by the Chinese embassy and the Confederation of Young Leaders, was the third of its kind, with the last one being held just months before the eastern Ladakh clashes of 2020.
When Indian foreign secretary Vikram Misri and Chinese vice foreign minister Sun Weidong met in Beijing last month amid a thaw in ties, the two sides agreed to restart direct flights, data sharing on trans-boundary rivers and the Kailash-Mansarovar pilgrimage that were disrupted due to the tensions.
During the special representatives’ meeting in December, India and China had agreed to normalise ties by resuming pilgrimages, border trade and data-sharing for rivers.
Special representative-level talks resumed following an agreement between Modi and Xi at their meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Russia’s Kazan in October.
Either side ought to “implement the important consensuses reached by the leaders of our two countries”, respect the other’s “core interests” and see each other’s development “as an opportunity”, Xu said.
He also called for visits and exchanges between the two sides, including those of resident journalists.
India and China had denied visa extensions to each other’s journalists following the eruption of tensions, leading to China having no reporters in New Delhi and India having just one based in Beijing.
