Mr. Wang Yi, Chinese Foreign Minister, concludes tour of India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Afghanistan

Mr. Wang Yi, the foreign minister of China, held an unplanned tour of India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Afghanistan from March 21-27. He also addressed the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) on March 23rd. During this address, he made some references to Kashmir. India has registered its formal protest on these remarks.

It is very unusual for a minister level person to travel without advance notice.

He was in India on March 25th, and met his Indian counterpart (someone who holds the same post is called a counterpart), Mr. S Jaishankar, and the National Security Advisor, Mr. Ajit Doval.

The two sides released a joint statement.

India and China have been in a border dispute in Ladakh from April 2020. We have covered this dispute in the past. It involves the Galwan valley and the Pangong lake. There is also another ongoing dispute over Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims is in China, not India.

The Indian foreign minister, Mr. S Jaishankar spoke about the need to solve the border dispute before relations between the two countries can be normalised.

After going back to China, the foreign minister released a statement that spoke about the success of his trip.

In this statement, he mentioned that he felt keenly that both countries have agreed that they are partners and intend to resolve their differences amicably (in a friendly way).

Wang also noted that India and China are partners rather than rivals.