India, China agree to ‘rebuild’ mutual trust

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpart Admiral Dong Jun, who met on Wednesday, agreed to ‘rebuild’ mutual trust and understanding.

The duo met on the sidelines of the 11th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM Plus) at Laos. Rajnath is on three-day visit to Laos from November 20 to 22.

The Ministry of Defence, in a statement, said Rajnath Singh called for reflecting on lessons learnt from the unfortunate border clashes of 2020 (Galwan June 2020). Rajnath asked for the need to “take measures to prevent recurrence of such events to safeguard peace and tranquillity along the border”.

The MoD said: “Both sides agreed to work together towards a roadmap for rebuilding mutual trust and understanding.” Rajnath Singh emphasised and looked forward to greater trust and confidence building between the two sides through de-escalation at the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

At the meeting with his counterpart, Rajnath Singh said amicable relations between India and China, the two largest nations in the world, would have positive implications for global peace and prosperity. “Considering that both countries are and will continue to remain neighbours, we need to focus on cooperation rather that conflict,” Rajnath Singh said.

This was the first meeting of the two Defence Ministers after Indian and Chinese militaries completed disengagement of troops.

The meeting between Rajnath and Admiral Dong came two days after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi met on the sidelines of the G20 Summit at Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, on Monday night. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said about the meeting, “The two Ministers felt that it was imperative that the focus should be on stabilising ties, managing differences and taking next steps.”

Notably Admiral Dong, who has been at the helm in his country’s defence ministry since December last year, is not a member of the Central Military Commission of China, that country’s highest body on military matters. Traditionally, Defence Ministers in China are from the CMC.

ADMM is the highest defence consultative and cooperative mechanism in ASEAN. ADMM-Plus is a platform for ASEAN member states - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam - and its eight Dialogue Partners - India, US, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand - to strengthen security and defence cooperation.

India became the dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1992 and the inaugural ADMM-Plus was convened in Hanoi, Vietnam, on October 2010. Since 2017, ADMM-Plus Ministers have been meeting annually to bolster the cooperation amongst ASEAN and the Plus countries. Laos is the chair and host of 11th ADMM-Plus.