A file photo of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
| Photo Credit: PTI
External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi have met briefly in Germany on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, their first meeting in more than six months.
Video footage from the Munich Security Conference showed Dr. Jaishankar and Mr. Wang having a brief chat on the sidelines of the event, which was attended by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other top diplomats from across the world. However, there is no official word on the gist of their discussion from both capitals.
This was the first meeting between the two leaders in over six months. The two last met in July in the Indonesian capital Jakarta at the ASEAN Regional Forum.
Frosty relation
The India-China relations have remained frozen since May 2020 when the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) amassed troops in eastern Ladakh led to a deadly clash. Since then both countries have held 20 rounds of corps commanders-level talks and agreed to pull back forces at four points.
India is pressing the PLA to disengage from the Depsang and Demchok areas, maintaining that there cannot be restoration of normalcy in its relations with China as long as the state of the borders remains abnormal.
Mr. Wang, Dr. Jaishankar and a host of ministers from various countries attended the Munich Security Conference, an important forum for the exchange of views by global policymakers.