(TibetanReview.net, Dec21’24) –While not denying it as such, India has distanced itself from China’s claim that the two sides reached a six-point consensus and a commitment to a ‘package’ deal on the boundary question at the Dec 18 Beijing meeting of their special representatives – India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi.
There was no joint statement after that meeting and China’s claim about the two sides having agreed to bifurcate the boundary issue from the “overall development of bilateral relations” is clearly opposed to India’s stand.
India’s position remains that stabilizing the border situation is the basis for the restoration of normal ties between the two countries.
The Chinese statement, issued Dec 18 night, received wide publicity in the Indian media, which talked about a “six-point consensus” and highlighted the fact that Indians may again be able to undertake the Kailash-Mansarovar pilgrimage in western Tibet soon.
China stopped the pilgrimage in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but never reopened it after bilateral ties plummeted in the wake of eastern Ladakh Galwan valley clash of the troops from the two sides that year.
The clashes led to the two sides escalating their military presence in the region, with the bilateral relationship severely affected in the process.
While both special representatives gave a “positive direction” towards the resumption of the pilgrimage, they have differed on the issue of prioritizing the normalization of the border situation, according to theprint.in Dec 20.
The Indian statement asserted that border ties are the cornerstone for determining the overall ties between the two countries. Furthermore, it makes no mention of a “six-point consensus”, the report said.
“We put out the details of issues discussed in our press release. The two sides have reaffirmed their commitment to exploring a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable framework for the settlement of the boundary question in accordance with the political parameters and guiding principles agreed in 2005,” the report quoted India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal as saying during a regular media briefing Dec 20.
The meeting between Doval and Wang was the first between the two in the special representatives’ format since 2019.
China has been pressing New Delhi to normalize overall bilateral ties, including with the resumption of direct flights between the two countries and the issuance of visas to Chinese nationals — both of which have been affected since the clashes at Galwan.
But Jaiswal has clarified that it is a “step-by-step” process before all parts of the relationship get restored.
The political processes of normalisation between the two Asian neighbours began after an agreement was reached on Oct 21, 2024 to disengage at the friction points in Eastern and Southern Ladakh.
Subsequently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a bilateral meeting on the margins of the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan on Oct 23, 2024, the report noted.