Any bilateral differences should not become disputes: EAM S Jaishankar to China

India on Monday told China that it is important to ensure that any bilateral differences should t become disputes, as Beijing said it is "very closely" following Indo-Pak tensions over Kashmir and its "ramifications" and asked New Delhi to play a "constructive role" for regional peace and stability.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who is on a crucial three-day visit to China, called on Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, considered a confidant of President Xi Jinping, and later h a restricted delegation-level talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Welcoming Jaishankar, Foreign Minister Wang referred to Indo-Pak tensions without directly mentioning about India scrapping Article 370 of Constitution that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir. "On basis of Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence, we can have mutually beneficial cooperation. This is in fundamental interest and long term interest of our two peoples and also contribute to world peace and human progress," Wang said.

"At same time, China and India as two big nations, also have important responsibilities for upholding regional peace and stability," he said. "When it comes to recent tensions between India and Pakistan and possible ramifications, we follow se developments very closely. We hope that India would also play a constructive role for regional peace and stability," Wang said.

visit of Jaishankar, first Indian minister to tour China after Modi government began its second term, is taking place following India's decision to revoke special status of Jammu and Kashmir and divide state into two Union Territories -Jammu and Kashmir, and Lakh. His visit was finalised much before India's move to revoke Article 370 of Constitution that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

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Jaishankar's visit comes days after Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi travelled to Beijing on August 9 to seek China's support for his country's attempts to take India's move to revoke special status to Kashmir to UN Security Council. India has maintained that Jammu and Kashmir is its integral part and issue is strictly internal to country.

Jaishankar's visit is mainly to finalise arrangements for President Xi's visit to India later this year for second informal summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

In his opening remarks, Jaishankar said as you kw India-China relationship has a very unique place in global politics. Two years ago, our leers recognised reality and reached consensus at Astana that at a time of global uncertainty, India, China relationship should be a factor of stability."

"To ensure that, it was important that differences between us, if any, should t become disputes. It was matter of great satisfaction that at Wuhan summit last year, re was very deep, constructive and open exchange of views between our leers. We have seen impact of that on bilateral relations since," he said, referring to summit meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi.

"Today looking at efforts that while leers give furr guidance for growth of our relationship, it is important to build public support for relationship. We have done that over years by being sensitive to each or's core concerns and by managing differences properly and by working on positive convergences that we have on relationship," he said. "I hope today discussions we have would help us translate those convergences into many more shared activities and collaborations," he said.

Jaishankar, who served as India's Ambassor to China from 2009 to 2013, longest tenure by an Indian envoy, told foreign minister that "it is a pleasure for me to visit China early in my tenure as Foreign Minister to co-chair high-level mechanism with you to also make preparations for forthcoming informal summit between our leers."

Foreign Minister Wang while referring to his restrictive delegation talks with Jaishankar in which only few officials were present, said, "We just h in-depth discussions and at large group meeting would also have important discussions on bilateral issues and important political nda between two sides and I am sure your visit this time will be useful for our bilateral relations and for regional stability. Once again welcome to China." 

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Topics likely to be discussed during meet

Modi and Xi set bilateral relations back on track with ir first-ever informal summit last year at Wuhan after a 73-day standoff at Doklam between two militaries in 2017. longstanding issue of India's concerns over tre deficit, which last year climbed to over USD 57 billion in USD 95.5 billion bilateral tre, is expected to figure in Jaishankar's talks with Chinese leership.

After India's move to scrap special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcate state, China issued two separate statements outlining its position on Lakh and, Jammu and Kashmir. In one statement, China objected to formation of Lakh as Union Territory by India, saying it undermined its territorial sovereignty. It also expressed "serious concern" about current situation in region and said "relevant sides need to exercise restraint and act prudently". In New Delhi, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar h said, "India does t comment on internal affairs of or countries and similarly expects or countries to do likewise."

See ims from EAM's China visit below