Chinese FM Wang Yi to visit Pakistan after India

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will head to Pakistan right after wrapping up his two-day diplomatic engagements in India, the ministry announced hours before Wang Yi was set to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at 5.30 pm on Tuesday, August 19. Analysts say the announcement undermines discussions of mutual trust and respect with India, but it is also a way for Beijing to maintain pressure on India. Wang Yi will meet Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar during his two-day visit for the sixth round of the China-Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue from August 20 to 22. “At a time when the India-China thaw has just begun, symbolically at least, the meeting could be delayed. But Beijing’s India strategy of keeping the pressure on is evident and Pakistan is an important pawn in that endeavour,” Anushka Saxena, a research analyst specialising in China at the Takshashila Institution, told CNBC-TV18.She added that while talks and negotiations must continue to navigate tensions in current geopolitics, New Delhi must convey its displeasure at the decision to China when the time is right. China’s close ties with Pakistan, with whom it shares an “iron brotherhood,” is one of the many reasons for its strained relationship with India. Saxena noted that while Wang Yi’s Pakistan visit may have been planned, it undermines the discussions on mutual trust and respect with India, which Indian External Minister Jaishankar emphasised was the key to move past “a difficult period” in India-China ties.”For starters, the discussions on mutual trust and respect stand negated, given that one of India’s primary asks from China is to hold back from supporting the terror sponsor that is Pakistan,” she said. Others view the move as a persistent attempt from China to equate India’s status with that of Pakistan, especially as this is not the first time China has paired official visits to India and Pakistan.  In 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping was scheduled to visit Pakistan right after his India trip, but the visit was postponed due to political unrest in Islamabad.Sriparna Pathak, professor of China Studies and International Relations at OP Jindal Global University, said, “China knows the best way to keep India’s power in check is by ensuring India remains restricted to the neighbourhood. Supporting Pakistan is the best hook for China in this context. While India and Pakistan got dehyphenated for the world long ago, China continues to hyphenate India with Pakistan to signal what it sees India’s status as- no better than a vassal state like Pakistan.”Wang Yi India visit so farWang Yi arrived in India on Monday (August 18) for a Special Representatives (SR) dialogue to address progress made on the border issue and rebuild ties ahead of Modi’s planned trip to China to attend the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), where he is also expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping. CNBC-TV18 has learned that Wang Yi, in his meeting with Jaishankar on Monday evening, promised that China would meet India’s requirements for fertilisers, rare earth magnets, and tunnel boring machines.Wang Yi also held discussions with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.  “This is very important because the basis for any positive momentum in our ties is the ability to jointly maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas. It is also essential that the de-escalation process move forward,” Jaishankar said.India-China relations came under strain after the two clashed in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh, along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in June 2020.After a few years of intense border standoff, efforts to disengage and demilitarise began shortly before the leaders of the two countries, PM Modi and President Xi Jinping, met at Kazan in Russia in October 2024. Also Read: India, China relations must be guided by mutual respect, sensitivity and interests, says Jaishankar

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