Dragon’s tone changed before the G20 meeting, the Chinese Foreign Minister said – gives importance to relations with India…
Ahead of a possible meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar in New Delhi on
Highlights
1. Meeting of foreign ministers of China and India possible on Thursday
2. China said – we are neighbours and both emerging economies
3. Said- more than one billion people live in both the countries
Beijing. Ahead of a possible meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar in New Delhi on Thursday, Beijing on Wednesday said it values its ties with India. and a ‘strong relationship’ between the two is in the basic interest of both the countries and their people. Qin is expected to meet Jaishankar in New Delhi on Thursday at the G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting, although here the Ministry of External Affairs is tight-lipped about it.
The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post newspaper called it a barrier-removing journey. This is Qin’s first visit to India after taking over from his predecessor Wang Yi in December and will be his first meeting with Jaishankar. The meeting of Qin and Jaishankar assumes significance in light of the progress made by the two countries in the 17th round of high-level military talks to resolve the eastern Ladakh standoff. When asked about Qin’s meeting with Jaishankar, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a media briefing here on Wednesday, “China attaches importance to its relations with India.”
Strong ties between China and India are in the basic interest of both countries and people
he said, ‘China and India are ancient civilizations and more than one billion people live in both. We are neighbours and both are emerging economies. Strong China-India relations are in the fundamental interest of both the countries and their peoples. Mao, without confirming the meeting with Jaishankar, said details of Qin’s visit to India would be released “in a timely manner”.
