New Delhi: India and China recorded a positive bilateral outcome when visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi assured External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday that his country will resume the much-needed supply of fertilizers, rare earth minerals and tunnel boring machines (TBM) as the two countries moved towards normalisation of ties.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi during a meeting in New Delhi. (@DrSJaishankar)
{{^htLoading}} {{/htLoading}}
It is understood that EAM Jaishankar raised the issue of supplies of urea, NPK and DAP, rare earth minerals, and TBM with Minister Wang Yi during his visit to China last month. However, the topic of boundary talks and border issues was not taken up by Jaishankar as it will be taken up by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval during Special Representative Dialogue today. Minister Wang meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi this evening.
EAM Jaishankar told his Chinese counterpart that there was no change in Indian position on Taiwan and just like the world India also maintained diplomatic presence for economic and cultural ties.
While the talks were cordial, US President Donald Trump was the elephant in the meeting room with both sides agreeing that they need to come closer due to prevailing policies of Washington. The general belief was that US policies and decisions will target both India and China and it is for the two sides to be in dialogue in order to tide over the uncertainty.
{{^htLoading}} {{/htLoading}}
{{^usCountry}}
Fact remains is that China agreeing to deliver on fertilizers, TBM and rare earths is a big development as Beijing had put a brake on Indian imports for nearly an year. China supplies nearly 30 per cent of fertilizers to India for agriculture, rare earths for auto parts and tunnel boring machine for road and urban infrastructure development.
{{/usCountry}}
{{#usCountry}}
Fact remains is that China agreeing to deliver on fertilizers, TBM and rare earths is a big development as Beijing had put a brake on Indian imports for nearly an year. China supplies nearly 30 per cent of fertilizers to India for agriculture, rare earths for auto parts and tunnel boring machine for road and urban infrastructure development.
{{/usCountry}}
While border talks did not figure in Jaishankar-Wang meeting, the sensitive topic will be raised and discussed substantially by NSA Ajit Doval in the SR level talks with the main focus on de-escalation of forces on the 3488 km Line of Actual Control (LAC). Even though the boundary friction and patrolling issues have been sorted out in Ladakh, both Indian and Chinese army are still amassed on the border and hence there is a need for sending the troops back to barracks.
Shishir Gupta is Executive Editor at Hindustan Times and one of India's top journalists covering national security, strategic affairs, foreign policy and geopolitics. Over the past three decades, he has extensively reported on India's military, diplomatic and security landscape, covering every major conflict and national security challenge, from the 1999 Kargil War and the 2020 East Ladakh standoff to Operation Sindoor in 2025. He has also covered major terror attacks, including the IC-814 hijacking, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the 2025 Pahalgam terror strike, along with numerous Pakistan-backed terrorist incidents in the Kashmir Valley and across India. He has reported on national and state elections for more than three decades. A recognised authority on strategic affairs, Gupta has covered India's nuclear programme since the Pokhran-II (Shakti series) tests in May 1998 and has written extensively on global nuclear issues, Indian diplomacy and the country's expanding global outreach. He has also reported widely on international conflicts and terrorism, with a special focus on the Indian subcontinent. Gupta has interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi more than four times, including Modi's first interview with the print media after becoming Prime Minister in May 2014. His other interviews include three with the Dalai Lama, as well as conversations with Benjamin Netanyahu, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal. He is the author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (Hachette, 2011) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (Hachette, 2014). He was awarded the Chevening-Wolfson Joint Scholarship at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK, in 1998 and participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the US State Department in 2006. He received the Ben Gurion Prize from Israel in 2011 and the K. Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). Since 2024, he has hosted Point Blank, Hindustan Times' weekly YouTube show on global geopolitics.
Get the latest India News, breaking headlines and real-time updates from across the country. Stay informed about politics, government policies, crime, weather and major national developments.
Get the latest India News, breaking headlines and real-time updates from across the country. Stay informed about politics, government policies, crime, weather and major national developments.
Home/India News/China ready to supply fertilizer, rare-earths and tunnel machines to India
{{^htLoading}}
Advertisement
{{/htLoading}}
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
{{#usCountry}}{{/usCountry}}
Hindustantimes wants to start sending you push notifications. Click allow to subscribe
