"Momentum Coming Back": China On Ties With India Amid Border Tensions

China has said its "macro bilateral ties" with India is coming back on track, amid tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

"China and India are working quite well together on some of the multi-national occasions," Zha Liyou, China's Consul-General, told a gathering in Kolkata while welcoming the Minister Counsellor of the Chinese embassy in India.

"Whether its SCO or G20 conferences, and also the President and the Prime Minister met on the sidelines of the Bali Summit. I believe they had a wonderful conversation. We are very happy to see the momentum coming back," Zha said, referring to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Group of 20.

The two nations continue to maintain communication via diplomatic and military channels, promoting the transition of the border situation to "normalised management and control".

"The current border situation is overall stable," Zha said, according to news agency PTI.

"Since last year, China-India relations have caught positive momentum. President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi commonly attended three summit meetings and exchange pleasantries on the sidelines of the G20 Bali Summit," Zha said.

"The two foreign ministers met thrice in 2022. Earlier this month, China's new Foreign Minister Qin Gang, during his visit to India to attend the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting, held a bilateral meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and had an in-depth exchange of views on bilateral relations and multilateral cooperation," he said.

Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed along the LAC in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh on December 9, resulting in minor injuries to a few personnel from both sides. The clash near Yangtse in the sensitive sector took place amid the border stand-off between the two sides in eastern Ladakh.

Zha said India and China could draw strength from their ancient civilisations, and share oriental wisdom with the world, so as to jointly maintain the stability of the international order.

"In a world intertwined with changes and chaos, China and India could speak out loud for more institutional rights of developing countries. The two countries working together will bear on the future of Asia and beyond," he added.