China’s new Defence Minister likely to visit India for SCO meet

China’s newly appointed Defence Minister, General Li Shangfu, is set to make his first visit to India in April

China’s newly appointed Defence Minister, General Li Shangfu, is set to make his first visit to India in April, which is also set to be the first high-level military visit from China since the Line of Actual Control (LAC) crisis began in April 2020. Separately, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, speaking at an event on Thursday, said that resolution of the stand-off in eastern Ladakh “is work in progress” and in the last three years the combination of military and diplomacy working in lockstep has made progress in resolving it.

General Li, also a State Councillor, is likely to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers’ meet in April in person. Chinese Minister of Public Security and State Councillor Wang Xiaohong only participated virtually in the SCO National Security Advisers’ meeting held this week.

India and China are also exploring holding a bilateral meeting between the two Defence Ministers during the visit, which will be the first since a meeting between Rajnath Singh and General Li’s predecessor, General Wei Fenghe, on the sidelines of the SCO Defence Ministers’ meeting in Moscow in September 2020.

General Li is the first of China’s Defence Ministers to come from the aerospace sector, and has served in the PLA’s equipment development department. He was sanctioned by the U.S. over China’s purchase of the S-400 missile defence system from Russia. His appointment by President Xi Jinping underlines the current focus on PLA modernisation, which General Li has been tasked with spearheading.

His visit comes as India and China continue to discuss disengagement in the last two of seven friction points – Demchok and Depsang – having previously come to an agreement in Galwan Valley, Pangong Tso, Gogra and Hot Springs. The two countries have so far held 17 rounds of Corps Commanders’ talks to resolve the stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh. While India maintains that two more areas, Depsang and Demchok, are yet to be resolved, China maintains that disengagement is complete and the remaining two areas of contention predate the stand-off.

In February, Joint Secretary (East Asia) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Shilpak Ambule held talks in Beijing with senior Chinese border officials for the first in-person meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) since July 2019. Both sides discussed proposals for disengaging in the two remaining friction areas along the LAC to create conditions to “restore normalcy” in relations, according to statements issued after the talks.

They also agreed to hold the next round of Corps Commander’s talks, which are likely to take place soon with the conclusion of the National People’s Congress in Beijing on March 13 that saw the appointment of new officials, including General Li.