India and China on Wednesday agreed to continue efforts to further facilitate and promote people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, including arrangements for resumption of direct flights and Kailash Manasarovar Yatra.
Joint Secretary (East Asia) Gourangalal Das held talks with Liu Jinsong, Director General of the Department of Asian Affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Beijing.
The talks were held a day after the 33rd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on India-China Border Affairs in Beijing on Tuesday.
The 33rd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on #China-India Border Affairs was held in Beijing today.
— Xu Feihong (@China_Amb_India) March 25, 2025
Both sides, adopting a positive, constructive, and forward-looking approach, conducted a comprehensive and in-depth exchange of views on… pic.twitter.com/KmYE45BLab
Both Das and Jinsong discussed resumption of dialogue mechanisms in a step-by-step manner to address each other’s priority areas of interest and concern and move relations on to a more stable and predictable path, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
They reviewed the developments in bilateral relations in the last few months. Since October 2024, the foreign ministers of the two countries have met twice while the Special Representatives on the India-China boundary question have held their 23rd meeting.
“These high-level meetings have provided strategic guidance to stabilise and further develop relations,” the MEA noted.
“In today's meeting, the two sides reviewed the action taken by them to implement the strategic direction as also the specific steps agreed in the meeting between Foreign Secretary and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister in January 2025 to stabilise and rebuild ties,” it said.
The decision to revive the Special Representatives (SR) mechanism and other such dialogue formats was taken at a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazan on October 23.
Subsequently, in December, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval travelled to Beijing and held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. In January, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri visited Beijing and held talks with his Chinese counterpart Sun Weidong.
According to MEA, the two sides have made further progress on the modalities to resume Kailash Manasarovar Yatra in 2025.
The relations between India and China came under severe strain following the Galwan Valley clashes in 2020.
