NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri will visit Beijing on Jan. 26-27 to discuss steps to boost ties with China, as the Asian neighbours revive relations that were strained since a deadly military clash on their disputed frontier in 2020.
New Delhi and Beijing reached a milestone pact in October on lowering military tensions on their Himalayan border and have begun taking baby steps to restore ties following talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Russia.
India’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that Misri’s visit “flows from the agreement at the leadership level to discuss the next steps for India-China relations, including in the political, economic, and people-to-people domains”.
The military and diplomatic tensions sparked by the 2020 clash hurt ties in other areas as India slowed visa approvals for Chinese nationals, banned popular Chinese mobile apps and tightened scrutiny of investments from China.
The world’s most populous nations share a poorly demarcated border which runs along the Himalayas and has been a source of tension for decades, including a brief but bloody war in 1962.
India is not looking to reduce the number of troops along the northern frontier in winter, the country’s army chief said last week, adding that it will review summer deployment based on outcome of talks.
(Reporting by Tanvi Mehta; Editing by YP Rajesh)
