External affairs minister S Jaishankar on 2 March met his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang and told him that though ties between the two countries are ‘abnormal’ and they have to address ‘real problems’.
Both the foreign ministers met since Qin’s appointment as foreign minister last year. Jaishankar and Qin met on the margins of the G20 foreign ministers meeting, in which the Indian MEA made it clear that the fallout of the border tensions on bilateral relations dominated their talks.
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“We spent maybe about 45 minutes talking to each other and the bulk of our conversation, understandably, was about the current state of our relationship, which many of you have heard me describe as abnormal,” Jaishankar told a media briefing.
“And [that was] among the adjectives that I used in that meeting. There are real problems in that relationship that need to be looked at, that need to be discussed very openly and candidly between us. That’s what we sought to do today,” he said.
The Minister said that both the leaders discussed developments within the G20 framework. “But the thrust of the meeting was really on our bilateral relationship and the challenges in the bilateral relationship, especially that of peace and tranquillity in the border areas,” he said.
This is Qin’s first visit to India. The India China relations are at their lowest point in six decades following the brutal clash at Galwan Valley in June 2020, which resulted in he death of 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese troops.
With agency inputs.
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