Jaishankar prepared to start a first visit to China in five years

The Foreign Minister’s Jaishankar will reach Beijing on Sunday evening, which is the first visit to China in five years.

The journey comes at a time when the two countries are trying to reduce stress and improve those relations after the Malignant Galvan Valley clashes in 2020.

Jaishankar, who is on a two-nation tour-Singapore and China are going to visit Beijing this evening after wrapping their visit to Singapore leg.

The Foreign Minister is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi for a bilateral meeting on Monday.

Jaishankar and Wang last met on the occasion of a G20 meeting in Johannesburg in February, where both sides made calls for mutual trusts and support.

Jaishankar will also participate in a meeting of foreign ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Tianjin on 15 July.

The Ministry of External Affairs confirmed that “the EAM will visit the People’s Republic of China to participate in the SCO Council’s Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (CFM).

This is Jaishankar’s first visit to China since ties after a deadly military clash in Galwan in 2020.

Jaishankar’s visit was traveled by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, who visited China in June for SCO meetings.

Wang Yi is expected to visit India next month to meet NSA Ajit Doval to meet NSA Ajit Doval to meet the decades -old border dispute.

Even diplomatic talks continue, China’s recent trade works have increased eyebrows in New Delhi. In recent weeks, China has either delayed or discontinued major exports to India, including rare earth magnets, fertilizers and tunnel boring machines, for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project.

Adding fuel to the fire, receiving the support of China’s secret and Pakistan, especially during the clashes, remains a sticky point. These thorny issues threaten to oversee any creative dialogue in the SCO meeting.

The SCO meeting may also come up with its set of challenges. Last month, India refused to sign a joint statement at a meeting of SCO Defense Ministers, as it did not include any mention of terrorist attack in Pahgam, killing 26 people. India had insisted on strong references to terrorism, but a country – Pakistan was considered – disagree.

A similar deadlock can play again during the meeting of foreign ministers, which made Jaishankar’s work difficult.

SCO is a 10-nation Eurasian security and political group, which includes China, Russia, India, Pakistan and Iran.

The 25th State Council meeting of SCO will be held in Tianjin later this year. India presided over the SCO President in 2023 while Pakistan hosted the SCO leaders summit in 2024.

The deadlock of the 2020 Galwan Valley between India and China was the worst border clash in more than 40 years, resulting in the death of soldiers from both sides.

The phenomenon increased rapid tension and reduced bilateral relations a historic.

The decision to revive SR dialogue and other passive channels was reportedly taken during a brief exchange between PM Modi and President Xi Jinping on the banks of a summit in Kazan, Russia in October last year.

There have been some glimpses of positive movement, especially to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra after about five years.

It is not clear whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit China to attend the Group’s annual summit. (AI)