Defense Minister Rajnath Singh is going to meet his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun. This is the first ministerial-level meeting between the two countries after India resumed patrolling in the Depsang area last week after the two armies disengaged in eastern Ladakh last month. Sources gave this information.
Chinese Navy Commander Dong Jun was appointed China’s Defense Minister in December last year. Rajnath Singh and Dong are scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the 10-nation ASEAN summit in Laos on November 20. This will be the first time after April 2023 that the Defense Ministers of the two countries will meet. In April 2023, Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu came to Delhi for the Shanghai Cooperation Org.zation meeting. That meeting was considered important for the purpose of expressing confidence of both the parties in each other.
Relations started improving after Modi-Xi Jinping meeting
This is the second in a series of high-level meetings to be held in Laos after the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Russia last month. This is a step towards strengthening and deepening India-China relations. It is not yet clear whether the series of high-level meetings will continue after Laos. Currently, Delhi and Beijing are rebuilding the bridges that were destroyed during the clashes in Galwan and Pangong lake areas in June 2020. 20 Indian soldiers were martyred during the clash in 2020. Both sides also increased military deployment.
