India-China relationship has unique place in global politics: S Jaishankar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping had realised long back that the relationship between New Delhi and Beijing “should be a factor of stability at a time of global uncertainty”, said S Jaishankar.

Pic courtesy: ANI

Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who is on a visit to China, has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping had realised long back that the relationship between New Delhi and Beijing “should be a factor of stability at a time of global uncertainty”.

Speaking in Beijing on the ties between the two countries, the External Affairs Minister said that the relationship between India and China “has a unique place in global politics”.

“India-China relationship has a unique place in global politics. Two years ago, our leaders recognised that reality and reached a consensus in Astana that at a time of global uncertainty India-China relationship should be a factor of stability,” said Jaishankar.

The minister further said that to ensure that the ties between India and China remained stable, it was imperative that the difference between the two countries “should not become disputes”.

Earlier on Monday, Jaishankar met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Vice President Wang Qishan in Beijing. The focus during Jaishankar’s visit is on the second informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year.

External Affairs Minister is slated to co-chair the second meeting of the India-China High-Level Mechanism on Cultural and People-to-People Exchanges (HLM) along with his counterpart. The HLM aims to increase people-to-people ties and enhance engagement in areas such as tourism, art, films, media, culture, sports.

"The 2nd HLM meeting will provide an opportunity to follow up on the outcomes of the 1st HLM meeting and discuss new initiatives for enhancing people-to-people exchanges between our two countries", the Ministry of External Affairs had said in a statement.