Swaraj meets Chinese counterpart, discusses issues of bilateral interest

Bishkek, May 22

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday met her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of a multilateral meeting here and discussed issues of bilateral interest, including the implementation of understanding reached during last year's Wuhan Summit.

Swaraj arrived here on Tuesday to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Council (SCO) of Foreign Ministers here in the Kyrgyz capital.

"Continuing the momentum of high-level exchanges. EAM @SushmaSwaraj met Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi on the sidelines of #SCO Foreign Minister's Meeting in Bishkek. Discussed issues of bilateral interest, including the implementation of understanding reached during Wuhan Summit," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a tweet on Wednesday.

The April 27-28 Wuhan summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping was largely credited to have turned around the bilateral relations soured by the 73-day-long Doklam standoff, triggered by Chinese troops attempts to build a road close to Indian border in an area also claimed by Bhutan in 2017.

India had objected to it as it came close to a key highway connecting with North Eastern states. The standoff ended after Chinese troops halted plans to build the road.

After the Wuhan summit, both the countries stepped up efforts to improve relations on different spheres including the military-to-military ties.

Modi and Xi issued strategic guidance to their militaries to strengthen communications to build trust and understanding, a move aimed at avoiding a Doklam-like situation in the future.

Meanwhile, state-run Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that Wang congratulated Swaraj for successful conclusion of the general elections in India and expressed hope that the new government would further the development of Sino-Indian relations.

The 2019 general election in India was held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19. The results will be declared on Thursday.

Wang told Swaraj that China hopes that India will set up a new government on schedule, and that both sides achieve a smooth transition and further development of bilateral relations, the report said.

The Chinese leader also expressed hoped to initiate bilateral dialogue mechanisms as soon as possible, maintain peace and stability at the border region, and together celebrate the 70th anniversary of the diplomatic ties between the two nations in 2020.

Wang also hoped that India and Pakistan would improve their relations, to which Swaraj said New Delhi is willing to improve bilateral relations with Islamabad and she hope that the two sides can make joint efforts to that end.

Swaraj said the new government in India will continue to make the development of India-China ties a diplomacy priority and will further boost bilateral cooperation in all fields, the report said.

India is willing to work with China to implement the key consensuses reached by leaders of both countries, strengthen communication and coordination, enhance people-to-people exchanges, and jointly safeguard peace at the border region, so as to promote the development of bilateral relations, she said. PTI