New Delhi, July 22
A couple of high-level meetings between India and China in Central Asia will make further attempts to resolve the standoff in Ladakh.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers’ meeting to be held on July 28 and 29 in Uzbekistan where the issue will be on the top of the agenda.
His visit will be followed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s visit to Uzbekistan next month to attend the SCO defence ministers’ meeting. He is likely to meet his Chinese counterpart General Wei Fenghe with the aim to ease border tensions in eastern Ladakh.
These efforts to resolve the border issue bear a semblance to a similar bid made on the sidelines of SCO Ministerial meetings in 2020 when Singh and Jaishankar had met their counterparts in Moscow on September 4 and 10.
At his last meeting with Wang earlier this month, Jaishankar had called for an early resolution of all outstanding issues along the LAC by disengagement and de-escalation.
“India is engaged in talks with China, focusing on a path to resolve outstanding issues in eastern Ladakh that involves disengagement, de-escalation and some degree of stability in the border areas for overall improvement in the ties,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said on Thursday.
Upcoming meetings
- Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers’ meeting on July 28-29 in Uzbekistan
- EAM S Jaishankar likely to meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi
- SCO defence ministers’ meeting in Uzbekistan next month
- Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to meet his Chinese counterpart General Wei Fenghe
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