India’s defence minister has told his Chinese counterpart that improved relations depend on “peace and tranquility” returning to their shared frontier, Reuters quoted an Indian government statement as saying on Thursday.

Although, as per Indian media, Rajnath Singh is said to have skipped a handshake with Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu, the two held a bilateral discussion ahead of the Shanghai Coope­ration Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers’ meeting, scheduled to be held today (Friday) in New Delhi.

In their first meeting since the border clash between troops from both sides in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley in 2020, Mr Singh told the Chinese defence minister that “all issues at the LAC need to be resolved in accordance with existing bilateral agreements and commitments”.

“Violation of existing agreements has eroded the entire basis of bilateral relations and disengagement at the border will logically be followed with de-escalation,” The Hindustan Times reported the official statement as saying.

Rajnath Singh meets Chinese counterpart ahead of SCO defence ministers’ moot

Chinese publication Global Times cited a Chi­nese defence ministry press release from Tuesday as saying that ahead of the SCO meeting, China and India held a corps commander-level meeting on Sunday, where the two sides “agreed to maintain close contact and dialogue through military and diplomatic channels, speed up the settlement of relevant issues on the western section of the China-India boundary, and continue to safeguard peace and tranquility in the border areas”.

Although a Pakistani delegation is already in India to attend the SCO meeting, Defence Minis­ter Khawaja Asif will participate virtually.

The defence ministers’ moot precedes the foreign ministers’ summit — to be held on May 4 and 5 — which will be attended by Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. This will be the first visit by a Pakistani foreign minister to India in over a decade.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2023