Officials of India and China hold new round of consultations on bilateral relations

Senior officials from the foreign ministries of India and China have held a fresh round of consultations in Beijing, reaffirming positive progress in bilateral relations following the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in August.

According to a press release from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Sujit Ghosh, Joint Secretary of the East Asia Division of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), and Liu Jinsong, Director General of the Asian Affairs Department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, held discussions on Thursday.

It said the two sides reaffirmed the recent positive progress in China-India relations and expressed their commitment to fully implement the important common understanding reached between Modi and Xi during their meeting in Tianjin in August.

In a press release, the Ministry of External Affairs described the discussions as “constructive and forward-looking”.

“Both sides highlighted the importance of the strategic guidance of the leaders of the two countries and positively assessed progress in stabilizing and rebuilding bilateral relations while giving priority to people-centered engagement,” it said.

It said both sides took stock of the exchanges and activities planned for the coming year.

“The Indian side stressed the need for expeditious resolution of outstanding issues related to export controls. Regional and global developments of mutual interest were also briefly discussed,” the Ministry of External Affairs said.

Ghosh later met Deputy Foreign Minister Sun Weidong.

During their meeting, Sun said PM Modi and President Xi had a successful meeting in Tianjin on the sidelines of the SCO summit, providing guidance to take China-India relations to a new level.

They expressed hope that the two sides will effectively carry out the important common understanding reached between their leaders, adopt a comprehensive approach, build mutual trust, make concerted efforts, work continuously to advance cooperation, respect each other, properly manage differences and promote the continued development of China-India relations, the Chinese release said.

In this, Ghosh was quoted as saying that India-China relations are very important.

The communique said India is willing to work together with China under the strategic guidance of the leaders of the two countries to resume institutional dialogue, strengthen exchanges and cooperation, and strengthen the momentum of development of India-China relations.

Ghosh also met the Director General (Asian Affairs) of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and discussed bilateral trade and commercial issues.