Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping reached a “consensus” to restore bilateral ties during their meeting in Bali last year, claimed China, the first time either side has suggested that the Bali meeting between the two leaders at a dinner had included any substantial conversation. The claim was made in a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement issued after a meeting between National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and his counterpart Director of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China Wang Yi in Johannesburg, where both advisers are attending the BRICS meeting of NSAs. On Tuesday, Mr. Wang was reappointed China’s Foreign Minister, after his successor Qin Gang was removed from the post.
The Indian statement on the Doval-Wang meeting did not include any reference to the claim, and instead focused on the continuing Line of Actual Control (LAC) standoff that Mr. Doval said had “eroded” the “ public and political basis” of the India-China relationship.
“NSA conveyed that the situation along the LAC in the Western Sector of the India-China boundary since 2020 had eroded strategic trust and the public and political basis of the relationship,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) press release said on Tuesday about the meeting that took place on Monday.
