India’s National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and Wang Yi, Director of the Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Foreign Affairs Commission, held discussions on the margins of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) NSA-level meeting in Johannesburg on Monday, an Indian Foreign Ministry statement said on Tuesday.
According to a statement by India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), both the top officials “agreed that the India-China bilateral relationship is significant not only for the two countries but also for the region and world”.
Doval told Wang that the ongoing military standoff in the eastern Ladakh region since 2020 has “eroded strategic trust and the public and political basis of the (Sino-India) relationship”, the Indian statement noted.
The Indian NSA underlined the importance of resolving the border situation and restoring “peace and tranquillity” in the border areas, which he said, was essential to “remove impediments to normalcy in bilateral relations”.
China and India Don’t Pose a ‘Threat’ to Each Other, Wang Yi Says
Wang, as per the Chinese Foreign Ministry readout reported in their state media on Monday, urged Doval to “stabilize” the border situation.
Wang said that both governments should adhere to the “strategic judgment” between the two leaders and that China and India didn't pose a threat to each other but offering each other developmental opportunities, the Chinese MFA said.
He said that there was a need for both the countries to enhance strategic mutual trust as well as focus on consensus and cooperation since the bilateral ties between the two Asian neighbours would not only affect their respective development, but also the global situation.
The Chinese diplomat said that Sino-India ties needed to get back to a “healthy and stable development path as soon as possible,” according to the Chinese MFA.
Wang further assured Doval that China would never seek “hegemony” like some other countries and that it was ready to cooperate with India to “promote multilateralism and the democratization of international relation”, the Chinese statement said.
He reckoned that a multipolar world free of hegemony based on equality and order would be established.