Amid rising tensions around the world, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will begin his two-day visit to India on Monday, August 18. During this visit, he will hold an important bilateral meeting with India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar. The talks are seen as an attempt to stabilize bilateral relations due to serious differences that have arisen between the two countries in recent years.
The visit comes at a time when India-US relations are taking different twist and turns. US President Donald Trump has raised import duties on Indian products to 50 per cent, including an additional 25 per cent penalty for buying oil from Russia.
The visit, which comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposed visit to China this month, is seen as another attempt to improve relations between the two countries, especially in view of the bitterness that arose after the 2020 Galwan Valley clashes.
Wang Yi will arrive in New Delhi at around 4:15 pm on Monday and will meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar at 6:00 pm.
On Tuesday at 11:00 am, he will participate in the next phase of the Special Representative Dialogue on the border dispute with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. Both the leaders are the Special Representatives nominated by their respective countries for border talks.
Many important issues including border situation, trade and air service restoration are likely to be discussed in these meetings.
At 5:30 pm on Tuesday, Wang Yi will pay a courtesy call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence, 7 Lok Kalyan Marg. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, this meeting is also considered important because it is taking place just before PM Modi’s proposed visit to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.
