China's foreign minister, Wang Yi, has arrived in Delhi on Thursday evening after a daylong Kabul visit. Government sources in New Delhi said Wang will meet his Indian counterpart, S. Jaishankar, and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Friday.
This is the first such visit by any Chinese official since 2020, when a series of violent border clashes erupted over the construction of border infrastructure in eastern Ladakh.
The Chinese minister will likely discuss the stalled disengagement process and the ongoing Ukrainian military and humanitarian crisis. Wang will fly to Kathmandu after making a day trip to Delhi.
Prior to his arrival in Delhi, the Indian foreign ministry hit out at remarks made by Wang during a speech to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Pakistan on Tuesday in which he said, "On Kashmir, we have heard again today the calls of many of our Islamic friends and China shares the same hope."
Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi rejected Wang's "uncalled reference" and said that matters relating to Jammu and Kashmir "are entirely the internal affairs of India" and "other countries including China have no locus standi to comment."
On 7 March, Wang said that the border dispute had triggered "setbacks" in the bilateral relationship but would not impact overall Sino-Indian ties.
He further suggested that unnamed forces are trying to destabilise relations between the two countries. India has maintained its position since 2020 that normalcy is not possible without peace along the Line of Actual Control.