New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will embark on a three-day visit to Singapore and China Sunday.
Jaishankar is visiting China to attend a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the Chinese city of Tianjin, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
It would be Jaishankar’s first visit to China after the ties between the two countries came under severe strain following the 2020 military standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.
“External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will be visiting Singapore and the People’s Republic of China from July 13 to 15,” the MEA said.
In Singapore, Jaishankar will meet his counterpart and the leadership of the country as part of the regular exchanges between the two sides, it said.
“Thereafter, the external affairs minister will visit the People’s Republic of China to participate in the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (CFM) being held in Tianjin,” the ministry said in a statement.
Jaishankar will also hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the CFM.
National Security Advisor (NSA) Doval visited Beijing in December last year and held the Special Representatives (SR) dialogue on the boundary question with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Doval visited China last month as well for a meeting of top security officials of the SCO member nations.
Jaishankar’s visit comes less than three weeks after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh travelled to the Chinese port city of Qingdao to participate in the SCO defence ministers’ conference.
China is the current chair of the SCO and is hosting the meetings of the grouping in that capacity.
The military standoff in eastern Ladakh began in May 2020 and a deadly clash at the Galwan valley in June that year resulted in a severe strain in ties between the two neighbours.
The face-off effectively ended after the completion of the disengagement process from the last two friction points of Demchok and Depsang under an agreement finalised October 21 last year.
In the last few months, India and China have initiated a number of measures to repair the bilateral ties.
The decision to revive the SR mechanism and other such dialogue formats was taken at a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazan October 23.
The Modi-Jinping meeting came two days after India and China firmed up a disengagement pact for Depsang and Demchok.
PTI
