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Political Relations

Embassy of India
Beijing
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China - Bilateral Brief

  1.     On 01 April 1950, India became the first non-socialist bloc country to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. Although the border conflict of 1962 was a setback to bilateral ties, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s 1988 visit marked a beginning in the improvement of bilateral relations.

  2. During Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s visit in 2003, India and China signed the Declaration on Principles for Relations and Comprehensive Cooperation, and mutually decided to appoint Special Representatives (SRs) to explore the framework of a boundary settlement. 

  3. During President Xi Jinping’s visit to India in September 2014, the two sides redefined their bilateral engagement as a ‘Closer Developmental Partnership’. In May 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China and held meetings with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang. Prime Minister Modi and President Xi held their first informal Summit in Wuhan on 27-28 April 2018 and their second informal Summit in Chennai on 11-12 October 2019.

  4. In addition, the two leaders have also met on the sidelines of various multilateral summits including the SCO Summit in Astana (09 June 2017). Prime Minister Modi visited China to participate in the G20 Summit in Hangzhou (Sept 2016), the BRICS Summit in Xiamen (Sept 2017) and the SCO Summit in Qingdao (June 2018). President Xi visited India in October 2016 to participate in the BRICS Summit in Goa.

  5. Further, Prime Minister Modi and President Xi met on the sidelines of the SCO Leaders’ Summit in Bishkek (13 June 2019), 14th G20 Summit in Osaka (30 June 2019) and the 11th BRICS Summit in Brasilia (13 November 2019). China’s Premier Li Qiang attended the G20 Summit chaired by India in New Delhi on 09-10 September 2023. 

  6. India and China have more than thirty dialogue mechanisms in place at various levels, across bilateral political, economic, cultural, people-to-people and consular matters, along with dialogues on regional and global issues. However, bilateral relations have been adversely impacted by incidents along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh in April-May 2020.

  7. On 25 March 2022, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited India and held meetings with External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Shri Ajit Doval. Former State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang visited India for the G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting (02 March 2023) and the SCO Foreign Ministers’ meeting (04 May 2023) and had bilateral meetings with EAM on both occasions. Recently, the Foreign Ministers have also met on the sidelines of multilateral events. EAM met with Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum in Jakarta (14 July 2023), the SCO Meeting of the Council of Heads of State (04 July 2024) in Astana, Kazakhstan and the ASEAN-related Foreign Ministers’ Meetings ( 25 July 2024) in Vientiane, Lao PDR.
     
  8. The Special Representatives (SR) mechanism on the India-China Boundary Question was established in 2003, and 22 rounds of talks have been held so far. The 22nd round of talks between Shri Ajit Doval, National Security Advisor and Mr. Wang Yi, Foreign Minister & then State Councilor were held in New Delhi on 21 December 2019. An Agreement on the Establishment of a Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) had been signed during the 15th Round of SR talks in New Delhi in January 2012. Since June 2020, the two sides have engaged in discussions through WMCC and Senior Commander’s Meeting (SCM) for disengagement in the border areas along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh. The WMCC has held 31 meetings so far, and the latest one was held on 29 August 2024 in Beijing. So far, 21 rounds of Senior Commanders’ Meeting (SCM) have been held, with the latest one  on 19 February 2024.

[ August 2024 ]