This is the first face-to-face meeting between Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Chinese Defense Minister General Li Shangfu after the clash in Galwan in eastern Ladakh. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) State Ministers’ Conference was held in Delhi on Thursday and Friday. Lee came to New Delhi to attend the conference. Defense Ministers of India and China sat on the sidelines of the conference. Dawn’s news.
According to official sources, Rajnath made it clear to Chinese Minister Li that all entanglements on the Line of Actual Control should be removed as per the agreements and commitments between the two countries. Violation of that agreement will undermine the entire bilateral relationship. India-China relations depend on peace and stability on the border. Apart from this, he also said that the army should be withdrawn as per the rules after retreating.
During the meeting, the Chinese defense minister presented a proposal to restart cooperation between the two countries’ militaries. India, however, rejected it, saying the proposal could be considered only after the situation on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) normalizes, but not before that.
Although not at the highest level of government, India and China have previously held several meetings to defuse border tensions at the military level. The last meeting took place last Sunday, at the Chushul-Moldo border, which was the 18th meeting of this phase. In talks, both countries agreed to maintain peace along the Line of Actual Control. After that, the importance of the meeting of the defense ministers of the two countries is considered sufficient.
However, another proof of how cold India-China bilateral relations are at the moment was seen in the Rajnath-Lee meeting. In that meeting, Rajnath Singh did not shake hands with any of the delegation including the Chinese Defense Minister. Rajnath Singh has shown considerable courtesy in bilateral meetings with defense ministers of other SCO member countries. However, he did not shake hands with Chinese Defense Minister Li in the side meeting.