China hosts top Indian diplomat amid growing signs of thawing ties

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi hosted the visiting Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, signalling progress in bilateral ties.

Wang met with Misri, who is on an official trip to Beijing for bilateral consultations with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong.

The two-day trip comes as China and India last year announced a breakthrough to resolve the border dispute in the contested Ladakh region along the Line of Actual Control.

Relations strained after clashes between their troops in 2020 that killed 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers.​​​​​​​

“China and India should seize the opportunity to meet each other halfway, explore more substantive measures, and commit themselves to mutual understanding, mutual support and mutual achievement, rather than mutual suspicion, alienation and mutual depletion,” Wang told Misri, according to a readout from Beijing.

The improvement and development of China-India relations “is fully in line with the fundamental interests of the two countries and their peoples, is conducive to safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of the Global South countries,” said Wang.

He added that such a trajectory in bilateral ties between two Himalayan neighbours was “conducive to making contributions of the two ancient civilizations to peace, stability, development and prosperity in Asia and the world.”

Misri landed in Beijing on Sunday and met with Liu Jianchao, who leads the international department of the Communist Party of China.

Ties have improved over the past four months with several high-level meetings, including talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Russia in October.

In December, Wang and India's national security adviser, Ajit Doval, agreed to seek ways to manage their border issue and step up efforts to build trust, at their second meeting in less than five months.