Indian envoy to China meets top Chinese foreign ministry official, discuss bilateral ties

Beijing, Jun 6 (PTI) Top diplomats from India and China discussed bilateral relations to implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries last year, the foreign ministry here said on Friday.

The meeting between Indian Ambassador to China Pradeep Kumar Rawat and China’s Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong on Thursday is the first diplomatic engagement between the two countries post the Operation Sindoor.

Both sides expressed their willingness to work together to earnestly implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, the Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said.

The two sides are also working out ways to promote cultural exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation, properly manage differences, and promote the development of China-India relations along a healthy and stable track, it said.

The two sides also exchanged views on the issues of common concern, the statement added.

Sun is the former Chinese Ambassador to India and currently Chinese Foreign Ministry's pointsman on South Asia.

Thursday’s meeting also took place as the two countries are finalising preparations to resume the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra in Tibet for the Indian pilgrims.

The Yatra, when it starts, would be the first among the steps being initiated by the two countries after normalising the relations after over four-year long military standoff in eastern Ladakh, which had brought the ties to a standstill.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on April 26 that the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra is set to take place from June to August via two routes -- Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand and Nathu La in Sikkim.

The Yatra was suspended initially in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently because of the military standoff in eastern Ladakh.

Following complete disengagement of troops at Demchok and Depsang under a pact sealed in October last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting at Russia's Kazan agreed to revive various bilateral dialogue mechanisms.

The two sides then held a series of meetings in the last few months aimed at normalising the bilateral relations.

Earlier, Rawat and Sun had met on April 9 and exchanged views on bilateral ties and cooperation in various fields.

Thursday's meeting between the two diplomats comes amid Operation Sindoor that India launched in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that saw 26 people dead.

Tensions between India and Pakistan, Beijing’s all-weather ally, escalated after the Pahalgam terror attack, with India carrying out precision strikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in the early hours of May 7.

The four days of on-ground hostilities from both sides ended with an understanding of stopping the military actions following talks between the directors general of military operations of both sides on May 10.

The Rawat-Sun meeting also took place amid growing concerns in India over China’s export controls on the rare earth metals.

According to the International Energy Agency, currently China accounts for 61 per cent of global mined rare earth production, but controls 92 per cent of the global output.

Rare earths are a group of metals consisting of 17 elements. PTI KJV NPK NPK