China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi expected to arrive in Delhi today

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi is expected to arrive in Delhi on Thursday, as part of his South Asia tour. This will be the first high-level Chinese visit to India since the Galwan clash in May 2020, which had led to the deterioration of bilateral ties between the two countries. 

Reports said Yi will meet Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Friday.

Though Yi’s visit is expected to help alleviate strains in relations between India and China, it was very clear that Wang's comments on Kashmir at the OIC opening ceremony in Islamabad on Tuesday have not gone down well with New Delhi.

“On Kashmir, we have heard again today the calls of many of our Islamic friends. And China shares the same hope,” Wang had said at the OIC meeting.

India rejected as uncalled for Yi's comments and said China and other countries have no locus standi to comment on Jammu and Kashmir and they should note that India refrains from public judgement of their internal issues.

There is no official comment or clarity on Wang's proposed visit to India either by New Delhi or by Beijing yet.

India and China have held a series of diplomatic and military talks in the last one-and-half years to resolve the eastern Ladakh row.

Jaishankar and Wang held several rounds of talks in Moscow and Dushanbe to defuse tensions in eastern Ladakh during the period.

In September 2020, Jaishankar and Wang held extensive talks in Moscow on the sidelines of a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) during which they reached a five-point agreement to resolve the eastern Ladakh border row.

The two foreign ministers had held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of another SCO meeting in Tajik capital city Dushanbe in July last year with a focus on the border row. They again met in Dushanbe in September.

India has been consistently maintaining that peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was key for the overall development of the bilateral ties.

On March 11, India and China held the 15th round of high-level military dialogue to resolve the pending issues in the eastern Ladakh region.

The eastern Ladakh border standoff between the Indian and Chinese militaries erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong lake areas.

Wang's proposed visit, if it takes place, is expected to provide an opportunity for the two sides to exchange views on the crisis in Ukraine as well.

With PTI inputs