AMN
India’s Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar today held talks with China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi ahead of a key strategic dialogue on Feb 22 to improve bilateral ties hit by Chinese reluctance to support India’s admission into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and back a United Nations ban on JeM leader Masood Azhar.
Jaishankar, who arrived in China from Sri Lanka, met Yang, who besides being the State Councillor is Beijing’s Special Representative for border talks between India and China.
In Chinese official hierarchy, State Councillor of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) is regarded as the top diplomat functioning directly under the country’s leadership.
Jaishankar is expected to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, besides attending an upgraded strategic dialogue with China’s Executive Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui tomorrow.
Underlining the significance of the strategic dialogue, which was upgraded during Wang’s visit to New Delhi last year, China has deputed Zhang Yesui, also the head of the influential CPC committee of the Chinese Foreign Ministry for the parleys.
Ahead of the talks, China has appeared unrelenting in its opposition to impose the UN ban on Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Azhar and ambivalent on India’s membership to the 48-member NSG.
Putting the onus on India to prove Azhar’s involvement in the Pathankot terrorist attack, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters on February 17 that China will back the move to list him only if there was solid evidence.
During the meeting, they expressed strong commitment to develop positive relations. Referring to the first Strategic Dialogue to be held tomorrow, Mr Jaishankar said, this is not just a meeting between him and his counterpart, it is preceded by consultations on a host of issues.
The Foreign Secretary flagged India’s concerns on CPEC and counter-terrorism in an interview with the China’s-state run Global Times. The counter-terrorism is one area in which China and India should make special efforts together, he said.