NEW DELHI: India and China agreed on Tuesday to resume direct flights and step up trade and investment flows as the neighbours rebuild ties damaged by a 2020 border clash.
The Asian giants are cautiously strengthening ties against the backdrop of US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable foreign policy, staging a series of high-level bilateral visits.
The latest statements came at the end of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s two-day visit to New Delhi for the 24th round of talks with Indian National Security (NSA) Advisor Ajit Doval to resolve their decades old border dispute.
The border talks covered issues related to pulling back troops both countries have amassed on their Himalayan border, delimitation of borders and boundary affairs, the Indian foreign ministry said, without elaborating.
The talks appeared to have made no major breakthrough on those issues and Beijing said both countries agreed to meet again in China in 2026.
But it also said the two countries would resume direct flights and boost trade and investment, along with smooth facilitation of visas.
Direct flights have been suspended since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. No date was given for their resumption.
“Stable, predictable, constructive ties between India and China will contribute significantly to regional as well as global peace and prosperity,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X after meeting Wang. Modi is scheduled to travel to China at the end of this month to take part in the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation - his first visit to the country in more than seven years.
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A readout from the Chinese foreign ministry said Wang told Doval that “the stable and healthy development of China-India relations is in the fundamental interests of the two countries’ people”.
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