Wang Yi visit: Little relief on LAC

His visit appears to miss a crucial point that ties can only move ahead if the standoff ends

As the dust settled on Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s whirlwind working visit to India, there was little to show in terms of progress in addressing the main issue bedevilling relations between the two Asian giants for the past two years – the military standoff in the Ladakh sector that has resulted in both sides maintaining tens of thousands of troops on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). All the speculation about Mr Wang delivering a special message to the Indian leadership or a breakthrough on the border issue remained just that. In his talks with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Mr Wang reiterated the oft-repeated Chinese position that the LAC standoff should be placed in its “appropriate position” in the broader scheme of bilateral relations. Given that India has never bought into this proposition, it is to the credit of Mr Doval and external affairs minister S Jaishankar that they made it clear to Mr Wang that progress in disengagement and de-escalation alone can lead to normal bilateral relations. India and China have had 15 rounds of military talks and eight rounds of diplomatic discussions, and the message sent out from the Indian side to Mr Wang made it clear that the progress made so far in these meetings must be extended to all the friction points in the Ladakh sector before the two sides can move on to other issues.

Mr Wang spoke with Mr Doval about China not pursuing a “unipolar Asia” and respecting India’s traditional role in the region. 

It would appear the Chinese side believed the geopolitical realignments and the turmoil created by the Ukraine war had created an opening for exploratory talks with the Indian side. Mr Wang was also keen to ensure the Indian prime minister’s participation in the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (Brics) Summit to be hosted by Beijing later this year. Mr Wang spoke with Mr Doval about China not pursuing a “unipolar Asia” and respecting India’s traditional role in the region. If that were truly the case, the Chinese foreign minister could have proved his country’s intentions by agreeing on some measures to help end the standoff and restore the status quo as it existed on the LAC in April 2020. This was perhaps the reason why Mr Jaishankar said he was honest in conveying national sentiments about how frictions caused by China’s troop deployments cannot be reconciled with a normal relationship.