China has announced that it is ready and willing to work with all stakeholders towards the successful culmination of the G20 Summit, hosted by India in 2023.
On Tuesday, China's foreign ministry stated that it supported India's hosting of this year's G20 Summit and was ready to collaborate with all parties to ensure the global event's success in New Delhi this week.
Asked whether the decision to send the Premier instead of the President to India reflect tensions between the two countries, foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning at a regular briefing Tuesday said that China-India relations have been stable on the whole and the two sides have "maintained dialogue and communication at various levels".
China’s response came after it announced recently that Premier Li Qiang would represent China at the Summit in place of President Xi Jinping.
Giving a pass to the issue of the border dispute, she further said, the two sides have "maintained dialogue and communication at various levels".
"The continued improvement and growth of China-India relations serves the common interests of the two countries and two peoples. We stand ready to work with India to further improve and advance bilateral relations," she added.
According to the ministry spokesperson, China has long placed a high value on the G20 grouping and actively engages in relevant events.
"We support India in hosting this year’s summit and stand ready to work with all parties to make the G20 Summit a success," the ministry's spokesperson said.
India and China have been at loggerheads since the violent clashes in eastern Ladakh's Galwan Valley in June 2020.
The clashes resulted in the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese soldiers. The incident was the first time that Indian and Chinese troops had been killed in a clash since 1975.
The clashes were a result of a long-standing territorial dispute between India and China in the Ladakh region. The two countries have been unable to agree on the exact border between them in this area.
Since the clashes, Indian and Chinese troops have been engaged in a standoff at several friction points in eastern Ladakh. The two countries have held several rounds of talks to try to resolve the standoff, but they have been unable to reach an agreement.
India has repeatedly stated that peace along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is critical to normalising overall relations.
Premier Li will represent China at the ASEAN Summit in Indonesia, which will take place from September 5 to 8. After attending the East Asia Summit in Jakarta, he will proceed to India.
The much touted G20 Summit will see the attendance of several world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The G20 member countries represent around 85 per cent of the global GDP, over 75 per cent of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population.
The grouping comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US and the European Union.
With inputs from PTI