New Delhi, Oct 19 (Inditop.com) With their bilateral ties under stress, the foreign ministers of India and China will meet in Bangalore next week to try and put their relations back on track on issues like Arunachal Pradesh that has sparked heated rhetoric recently.
External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna will meet his counterparts, Sergei Lavrov of Russia and Yang Jiechi of China, in the IT city of Bangalore Oct 27 for the fifth stand-alone trilateral meeting of the three countries.
The trilateral meeting will focus on expanding cooperation among the three emerging economies on regional and international issues, including terrorism, the global financial crisis, UN reforms and climate change.
However, all eyes will be on the bilateral meeting between Krishna and Yang, the first between the two foreign ministers since the reports of Chinese incursions and strident assertions over Arunachal Pradesh by Beijing.
All issues, including the border dispute, trade and Arunachal will be discussed, an official source said.
The visa issue which has also cast a shadow over the ties will come up for discussion. Officials here have clarified that contrary to reports in a section of the media there is no separate visa regime being planned for Chinese workers.
With hundreds of foreign nationals, including Chinese, reportedly misusing business visas in India for finding employment, the external affairs ministry has made it clear that business visas have to be converted into employment visas, which requires separate clearance by the home ministry.
The meeting between the two foreign ministers will be preceded by a likely meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit at a high-end resort near Bangkok Oct 23-24, an official source said here.
Last week, China objected to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh for an election campaign on grounds that it is part of its territory. India reacted sharply, asking China to desist from carrying out projects in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, saying it was a part of Jammu and Kashmir.
