China ready to work with India for 'steady and sound growth' of ties: Foreign Minister Wang Yi

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said both countries have maintained communication through diplomatic and military-to-military channels

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on December 25 that China is ready to work with India for the "steady and sound growth" of bilateral ties and the two countries are committed to upholding stability at the border areas where tensions have prevailed since 2020.

Addressing a symposium on the international situation and China's foreign relations in 2022, Mr. Wang said both countries have maintained communication through diplomatic and military-to-military channels.

"China and India have maintained communication through the diplomatic and military-to-military channels, and both countries are committed to upholding stability in the border areas,” said Mr. Wang, who has been elevated to the ruling Communist Party of China’s (CPC) high-power political bureau during the recent party Congress.

“We stand ready to work with India in the direction toward steady and sound growth of China-India relations,” he said at the symposium.

Mr. Wang, along with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, is the Special Representative of the India-China boundary mechanism which has remained dormant in the present set of border standoffs.

In his lengthy address on China’s diplomatic work, Mr. Wang focused more on China’s troubled ties with the U.S. and burgeoning relations with Russia, despite the Ukraine war.

He briefly touched on India-China relations that have been bogged down since April 2020 when China tried to move a large number of its troops to the disputed areas in Easter Ladakh, resulting in a prolonged military standoff.