China and India engaged in a border dispute dominated the discussions between their foreign ministers on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in India. The Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said that the China-India border situation was “generally stable,” while the Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar emphasized the importance of “ensuring peace and tranquility in the border areas.”
The two ministers met in the western coastal city of Goa on Thursday, where India is hosting top diplomats from the SCO for an annual summit that ends on Friday. The border dispute has been ongoing since a deadly clash between the two militaries in 2020 along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Ladakh area of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region. At least 24 soldiers, 20 from the Indian side, were killed when the two militaries fought without firearms in June 2020, and the standoff has continued since May 2020.
A readout from Beijing on Friday quoted Qin as saying, “The two countries should draw experience and lessons from history, steer bilateral relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, respect, and learn from each other.” He called on the two sides to “contribute to each other’s success, pursue a new path of living in harmony, peaceful development and common revitalization between neighboring major countries, so as to boost their respective national rejuvenation and inject stability and positive energy into world peace and development.”
Jaishankar said in a tweet that he had a “detailed discussion” with Qin “on our bilateral relationship.” He added, “Focus remains on resolving outstanding issues and ensuring peace and tranquility in the border areas.”
The meeting between the two foreign ministers followed a similar meeting between Chinese and Indian defense chiefs last week in New Delhi, where India hosted the SCO defense ministers’ summit. Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh had told his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu that border tensions had “eroded the entire basis” of bilateral relations between the two countries. Li, however, had said the situation along the border was “stable,” urging India to take “a long-term view” of bilateral relations and “place the border issue in an appropriate position.”
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