India and China held a consultative meeting between their Foreign Ministries on March 26, 2025, in Beijing. The joint secretary of the East Asia division of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, Shri Gourangalal Das, met with Mr. Liu Jinsong, Director General of the Department of Asian Affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The two sides took a positive note of the developments in bilateral relations since the meeting of the leaders of India and China in October 2024. In this period, the foreign ministers have met twice, while the special representatives on the India-China boundary question have held their 23rd meeting. These high-level meetings have provided strategic guidance to stabilize and further develop relations.
In today's meeting, Das and Liu Jinsong reviewed the action taken by them to implement the strategic direction agreed upon in previous meetings, as well as the specific steps agreed in January 2025 to stabilize and rebuild ties. They agreed to continue efforts to facilitate and promote people-to-people exchanges, including arrangements for the resumption of direct flights, media and think-tank interactions, and the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.
The two sides have made further progress on the modalities to resume the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra in 2025. They also took stock of the planned exchanges and activities this year and discussed resuming dialogue mechanisms in a step-by-step manner to address each other's priority areas of interest and concern, with the aim of moving relations towards a more stable and predictable path.
The meeting is seen as a positive step towards strengthening bilateral relations between India and China, two of the world's largest economies. The outcome of this meeting will be closely watched by diplomats and analysts in both countries, who are eager to see how it will shape the future of their strategic partnership.