Jaishankar meets Chinese counterpart Qin Gang on sidelines of G20, discusses border dispute

NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Thursday met his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang on the backdrop of the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting. This was the first such bilateral interaction between the two leaders.

The discussion between Jaishankar and Gang focused on addressing the current challenges to the bilateral ties between India and China. The meeting was largely focused around peace and tranquility around the border area.

“Met Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on sidelines of #G20FMM this afternoon. Our discussions were focused on addressing current challenges to the bilateral relationship, especially peace and tranquillity in the border areas. We also spoke about the G20 agenda,” Jaishankar tweeted after meeting Gang in the national capital.

It is speculated that the two leaders discussed the long-standing Ladakh border crisis during the G20 FM meeting. The meeting can be touted to be an extension to the progress made by India and China in its 17 rounds of high-level military-level talks over the Ladakh standoff.

This is Qin Gang’s first visit to New Delhi after he took over the post from his predecessor Wang Yi in December last year.

Prior to his meeting with the Chinese foreign minister, Jaishankar met US counterpart Antony Blinken and the two held discussions on bilateral relations and deliberated some global issues, including the Russia-Ukraine conflict.