- Jaisankar, Wang team conversations in Delhi in the middle of border tension.
- Jaishankar says peace on border key to better ties.
- Wang to meet Prime Minister Modi, hold border negotiations with Doval.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaisankar began conversations with his Chinese colleague Wang Yi in New Delhi on Monday and emphasized that there could only be a positive momentum in the tapes between the neighbors if there was peace on their border.
Wang arrived in the Indian capital on Monday for a two-day visit, where he will hold the 24th round of border negotiations with Indian national security adviser Ajit Doval and also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“This (discussion of border problems) is very important because the basis of any positive momentum in our bond is the ability to jointly maintain peace and quiet in the border areas,” Jaishankar told Wang in his opening notes.
It is also important for the two countries to withdraw their troops together along their disputed border in Western Himalayas since a deadly border clash in 2020, Jaisankar said.
Wang’s visit comes the days before Modi travels to China – his first visit of seven years – to attend the Sque -Cooperation Organization summit, a regional political and security group that also includes Russia.
The relationship between the Asian giants began to thaw in October, after New Delhi and Beijing reached a milestone covenant to lower military tensions at their Himalayas after conversations between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Modi in Russia.
The ties between the two countries had worsened sharply following a military clash on their disputed Himalayan border in the summer of 2020, when 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers were killed.
Modi calls ‘friend’ Putin
Heating of ties between China and India comes as the relationship between New Delhi and Washington is strained.
Trump has issued an ultimatum for India to end his purchase of Russian oil – an important source of income for Moscow’s war in Ukraine – or Washington will double new import tariffs from 25% to 50%.
Modi said Monday he was talking to “my friend” Vladimir Putin, with the Russian president “Sharing Insights” at his Alaska summit with Trump last week.
“India has consistently called for a peaceful solution of the Ukraine conflict and supports all efforts in this regard,” the Indian Premier wrote on social media.
Indian hopes the Alaska meeting would facilitate the US customs pressure was tempered earlier Monday by US trade adviser Peter Navarro.
“If India wants to be treated as a strategic partner in the United States, it has to start acting like one,” he wrote in a sharp word pillar in the Financial Times.
“India acts as a global clearing house for Russian oil that converts Embargoed crude oil for high value exports while giving Moscow the dollars it needs,” he wrote.
“The proceeds flow to India’s politically connected energyitan and, in turn, to Vladimir Putin’s war box,” he added in a seemingly ironing against India’s great refineries that include Tycoon Mukesh Ambani.
Navarro said the 50% tariff – to begin on August 27 – will “hit India where it hurts”.
