Jaishankar discusses abnormality in ties with new Chinese Foreign Minister

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday held bilateral talks with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang with a focus on the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and sent a categorial message that ties cannot be normal unless peace and tranquility along LAC is established.

This was the first such bilateral interaction between the two Ministers since Qin was made the Foreign Minister.

The discussion between Jaishankar and Qin focused on addressing the current challenges to the bilateral ties between India and China. The meeting was largely focused on peace and tranquility in the border areas.


"I told the visiting Minister that ties are currently abnormal and peace and tranquility is a must for any normalisation in relations," Jaishankar told media persons.

While the G20 agenda was also discussed, focus was on the LAC situation, Jaishankar said.

It is the first meeting between Mr Jaishankar and Qin after the latter became the Chinese foreign minister in December.

The talks came nearly eight months after Mr Jaishankar held a meeting with the then Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi in Bali on the sidelines of a G20 meeting.

During the one-hour meeting on July 7, Jaishankar had conveyed to Wang the need for early resolution of all the outstanding issues in eastern Ladakh.

The external affairs minister had told Wang that the relationship between the two countries should be based on "three mutuals" -- mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interests.

On February 22, India and China held in-person diplomatic talks in Beijing and discussed proposals for disengagement in the remaining friction points along the LAC in eastern Ladakh in an "open and constructive manner".

The meeting took place under the framework of Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC).