C. Uday Bhaskar

Opinion | Ukraine war: how India-China cooperation can help remove nuclear threat and ease tensions between US and Russia

Even as border disputes and other issues remain unresolved, Asia’s two major powers have a mutual interest in bringing about a ceasefire in Ukraine and ending the threat of nuclear war

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C. Uday Bhaskar

Published: 3:30am, 30 Mar 2022Updated: 4:13am, 30 Mar 2022

The unannounced visit of Foreign Minister Wang Yi to New Delhi last Friday was the first visit by a senior Chinese minister since the tense military stand-off between India and China in mid-2020 along the contested Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Ladakh region of the Himalayas.

At the time, Chinese troops moved into areas along Pangong Lake that are part of the Indian claim line. This was a violation of the 1993 agreement to maintain peace and tranquillity along the LAC.

Beijing sought out last week’s visit. However, the tenor was already set when Wang made an uncharacteristic reference to Kashmir during his visit to Pakistan, where he was a special invitee at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit last Tuesday. Delhi rejected this reference to India’s domestic matters.

Wang’s visit to India did not lead to any breakthroughs in the territorial dispute, but neither was there a breakdown in the troubled bilateral relationship. The subtext was that China is keen to set the territorial dispute aside and resume engagement on other tracks.

However, India remains steadfast in seeking complete troop disengagement from the LAC for discussions on de-escalation to take place, something on which China has not budged.

Given the significance of the visit, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar personally briefed the media, saying: “I was very honest in my discussions with the Chinese Foreign Minister, especially in conveying our national sentiments on this issue. The frictions and tensions that arise from China’s deployments since April 2020 cannot be reconciled with a normal relationship between two neighbours.”