India and China continue to build on their relationship which, experts say, has warmed significantly since the chill of Doklam (where the two countries faced off) last year, and the 21st round of Special Representative talks between the two countries on boundary resolution will be held in China later this year, while the bilateral so-called “Hand-in-Hand” counter terrorism exercise will be held in November-December this year in India.
Senior government officials involved in the process told Hindustan Times that the hotline between the Directors General of Military Operations of the two countries is still work-in-progress, and added that National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will meet newly appointed State Councillor Wang Yi for resolution of the boundary issue.
It is learnt that both Doval and Wang will discuss practical steps to prevent any incident on the unresolved 3,488km border between the two countries, with an emphasis on increased contact and confidence building between the PLA and the Indian Army. Talks will also focus on building trust so that neither of the two armies takes any unilateral measure to change the ground situation.
The bilateral counter terrorism exercise will resume after hiatus of one year due to the 73 day tense stand-off between the two countries at Doklam plateau in Bhutan. The military exercise will be hosted by India this year and specific dates are being worked out, the officials added.
Although Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping decided to keep in close touch at the apex level after the 2017 Astana SCO summit, Doklam, the Chinese Communist Party Congress and the Gujarat elections delayed the informal meeting by nearly a year.
{{/usCountry}}Although Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping decided to keep in close touch at the apex level after the 2017 Astana SCO summit, Doklam, the Chinese Communist Party Congress and the Gujarat elections delayed the informal meeting by nearly a year.
{{/usCountry}}The two leaders exchanged notes on the way forward to the relationship at the informal meeting in Wuhan on April 27-28. They will meet at BRICS summit in South Africa and G-20 summit in Buenos Aries later this year.
The Chinese leader is all for promoting good ties with India without giving up on core issues with the US, which is on the verge of bringing in new legislation or executive order to review foreign investment in America. There is a strong possibility that Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA) may become an executive order on June 29 or be passed by the US Senate later.
Reforming the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US in line with FIRRMA will achieve the twin objective of the Trump administration of protecting national security and preserving the open investment policy. FIRRMA, when passed, will make Chinese investment more transparent in the US and will also have to pass muster of the national security agencies.
With the Trump administration imposing trade tariffs on China and India, both sides will have to work and speak together against protectionism and rising economic instability.
The two countries are also working together to explore the possibility of creating a buyer’s collective in oil, of which both are importers.