Amid continued Sino-India discord over a host of issues, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale has made a surprise visit to Beijing and held talks with top Chinese officials on bilateral ties and topics related to regional and international importance.
Gokhale’s visit, which was kept under wraps was announced through a tweet by Indian Embassy early on Saturday.
“During the consultations, the two sides reviewed recent developments in bilateral relations, including high level exchanges, and discussed the agenda for bilateral engagement in the coming months,” a statement by the Indian Embassy here said.
Gokhale who was India’s envoy to China before he succeeded S Jaishankar as the Foreign Secretary last month, held talks with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou, and called on Foreign Minister Wang Yi and state councillor Yang Jiechi,the statement said.
In Chinese hierarchy, Yang who is the State Councillor besides Special Representative of India-China border talks, is placed higher than the Foreign Minister.
Both Wang and Yang visited New Delhi to kick start the bilateral dialogue, the first after the 73-day standoff at Dokalam which strained ties.
“Both sides agreed upon the need to expedite various dialogue mechanisms in order to promote multifaceted cooperation across diverse fields of India-China engagement,” the statement said.
They noted the need to build on the convergences between India and China and address differences on the basis of mutual respect and sensitivity to each other’s concerns, interests and aspirations, the statement said.
“Both sides underlined that as two major countries, sound development of relations between India and China is a factor of stability in the world today. The two sides also exchanged views on regional and international issues of common interest,” it said.
late last night, the Chinese Foreign Ministry posted a statement on its website.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry in its statement said that Wang told Gokhale that the two sides should enhance strategic mutual trust and accelerate common development in line with the political consensus of the leaders of the two countries
“We hope that the Indian side will handle sensitive issues prudently and work with China to promote the sound development of China-India relations,” Wang said in an apparent reference to host of sensitive issues, including the current political crisis in Maldives being faced by the two countries.