As the neighbors mend fences torn by a 2020 border dispute, India and China decided on Tuesday to increase trade and investment flows and restore direct flights.
The Asian powers are holding a number of high-level bilateral visits in an effort to gradually deepen their relationship in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump's erratic foreign policy.
According to the Indian foreign ministry, the two nations will increase trade and investment, reopen border trade at three specific locations, resume direct flights, and make visas easier.
Since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, direct flights have been halted. There was no indication of when they will resume.
The most recent remarks were made following Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's two-day visit to New Delhi for the 24th round of negotiations to settle their long-standing border conflict with Indian National Security (NSA) Advisor Ajit Doval.
According to the Indian ministry, the border negotiations addressed topics including delineating borders, boundary disputes, and the withdrawal of soldiers that both nations have accumulated along their Himalayan frontier.
According to a Chinese foreign ministry statement issued on Wednesday, the two nations have decided to form a working group to coordinate and discuss on border issues in order to move demarcation talks forward.
According to the process, negotiations will be expanded to include the middle and eastern portions of the border. According to the government, another round of negotiations on the western portion will take place as soon as feasible.
The two nations have decided to meet again in China in 2026, according to Beijing.
Following their meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on X, "Stable, predictable, constructive ties between India and China will contribute significantly to regional as well as global peace and prosperity."
At the end of this month, Modi will make his first trip to China in over seven years to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization conference.
Wang informed Doval that "the stable and healthy development of China-India relations is in the fundamental interests of the two countries' people," according to a readout from the Chinese foreign ministry.
According to Wang, the two parties "should enhance mutual trust through dialogues and expand cooperation," and they should strive for agreement on matters like demarcation and border management.
India claimed that during his discussions with Wang, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar emphasized India's worries about the massive dam China is constructing on Tibet's Yarlung Zangbo River.
A lifeline for millions, the Yarlung Zangbo transforms into the Brahmaputra as it flows into Bangladesh and India.
According to New Delhi, the necessity for "utmost transparency" was emphasized, and the project would have an impact on lower riparian states.
According to China's foreign ministry, China promised to provide India with emergency hydrological data on pertinent rivers on a humanitarian basis.
According to the ministry, both parties decided to keep in touch and participate in an expert-level mechanism on cross-border rivers in order to update the flood reporting procedures.
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