Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. (Agencies)
Although it denies that it can mediate alone in the border confrontation between India and China, Russia On Tuesday he laid the groundwork for a meeting between the foreign ministers of India and China in Moscow as said that SCO can provide a platform to build mutual trust between member states.
Ahead of the SCO foreign ministers meeting in Moscow on September 10, Russia’s deputy chief of mission here, Roman Babushkin, said that Russia will encourage all opportunities and efforts for a dialogue between India and China to resolve their differences. .
Foreign minister S Jaishankar and his counterpart Wang Yi will hold bilateral talks outside the SCO in what will be their first physical meeting since news of a new border conflict in Ladakh broke in early May. The two will meet at a time when the troop withdrawal talks in eastern Ladakh and LACQUER The de-escalation teeters on the brink of collapse, and the two accuse each other of opening fire in LAC for the first time in 45 years on Monday night.
“The SCO Charter does not allow any bilateral dispute to get involved, but it provides a comfortable platform to build mutual trust, expand cooperation, find common ground, and ultimately create the conditions for dialogue between countries. We are witnessing many opportunities in the SCO outside the bilateral dialogue and we are pleased to see that the defense ministers of Russia and China met recently and that the foreign ministers will also meet, “said Babushkin, in an interaction with journalists.
“We will encourage an outcome that provides an impetus to the de-escalation and disengagement talks,” he further said, adding that Russia was confident that the two sides will find a mutually acceptable solution through dialogue.
Significantly, Babushkin also expressed the hope that India will find “common ground” with Pakistan within the “consensus framework for SCO cooperation”. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan Shah Mahmood Qureshi He will also participate in the SCO meeting. According to official sources here, there is no bilateral meeting scheduled with Qureshi for now. When asked about the possible arms supply to Pakistan, Babushkin said Russia will remain sensitive to India’s concerns.
The meeting on the sidelines of the SCO will provide Jaishankar and Wang an opportunity to look again at the border situation. Their phone conversation in June helped establish general principles for the disengagement, but the situation appears to have changed in recent weeks with Indian troops taking control of strategic peaks on the southern shore of Lake Pangong. According to sources, the Chinese side has not been able to accept the “readjustment” that India made on the southern shore in the deployment of troops.
Babushkin, however, ruled out any possibility of Moscow mediating the dispute unless specifically asked by both countries. The Indian government has also ruled out mediation by any foreign power. However, India has tried to keep Moscow informed about developments in LAC, especially because of its close ties with Beijing. Russian Ambassador Nikolay Kudashev was the first foreign envoy to be briefed on the situation in June by Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla.
However, on questions about the Indo-Pacific, the diplomat said Russia was ready to work with any group that is “inclusive, forward-thinking, open-minded and based on international law.” Moscow views the Indo-Pacific concept in its current form as nothing more than an exercise at the behest of the United States to contain China.
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