Beijing: Ahead of Friday’s India-China border talks, China on Tuesday said that the Doklam standoff posed a “major test” for the bilateral ties and lessons should be learnt from it to avoid a similar “conflict” in the future.
The 20th round of border talks between national security advisor Ajit Doval and China’s state councillor Yang Jiechi will be held in New Delhi on December 22, officials said.
The two sides attach significance to this round of talks as it would be the first since the 73-day Doklam standoff in the Sikkim section which ended on August 28.
“This Special Representative meeting is not only a high- level channel for the border issue discussion but also the platform for strategic communication,” foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.
This also allows the two sides to exchange views on the international and regional issues of major concern, she said.
“In 2017, China-India relations have maintained a good momentum generally but the Doklam incident posed a major test for the two countries. We should learn lessons from this incident to avoid any further conflict of this kind in the future,” Hua said.
“We should follow our historical conventions on the border to uphold the tranquillity and peace in the border region as well as safeguard the larger picture of the India- China relations,” she said, adding that is in the best interest of both the countries. Asked about the Doklam standoff's impact on the talks, Hua said the issue also figured in the recent visit of Foreign Minister Wang Yi to New Delhi to take part in the foreign ministers' meeting of Russia, India and China.
