BEIJING: China and India announced they would restart direct flights in a string of diplomatic breakthroughs, state media reported yesterday, as Beijing’s foreign minister wrapped up a visit before heading to Pakistan.
Following Wang Yi’s trip to India, Beijing and New Delhi also agreed to advance talks on their disputed border, resume tourism visa issuance and boost trade between the neighbouring countries.
In talks on the border issue with Indian national security adviser Ajit Doval, the two sides agreed to “explore the possibility of advancing boundary demarcation negotiations” and vowed to reopen three border trade markets, according to a Xinhua report yesterday.
Relations between the world’s two most populous countries soured after a deadly border clash in 2020.
But a thaw began last October when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping for the first time in five years at a summit in Russia.
Modi will travel to China later in August — his first visit since 2018.
Wang is now due in Pakistan, India’s arch-rival and one of China’s closest partners in the region.
China has poured tens of billions of dollars into Pakistan to fund massive transport, energy and infrastructure projects — part of Beijing’s transnational Belt and Road scheme.
Wang said that China supported Islamabad in defending “national sovereignty and territorial integrity”, in talks with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar in May, days after Islamabad and New Delhi agreed a ceasefire.
Wang is due in Pakistan until tomorrow and will meet with Dar for the sixth round of China-Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue, China’s foreign ministry said Tuesday. – AFP
