India's Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met State Councillor and Minister of National Defence of China General Li Shangfu in New Delhi on Thursday. The two Ministers had frank discussions about the developments in the India-China border areas as well as bilateral relations. The meeting is the first between defence ministers of the two countries since September 2020 when they held talks on the sidelines of a SCO meeting in Moscow.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh categorically conveyed that development of relations between India and China is premised on prevalence of peace and tranquillity at the borders. He added that all issues at the LAC need to be resolved in accordance with existing bilateral agreements and commitments. He reiterated that violation of existing agreements has eroded the entire basis of bilateral relations and disengagement at the border will logically be followed with de-escalation.

The Chinese Defence Minister is in Delhi to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers’ Meeting on April 28, 2023. The group consists of China, India, Pakistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Krgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Relations between India and China have deteriorated since mid-2020, when Chinese and Indian troops clashed on their disputed Himalayan frontier.

The situation has largely calmed after military and diplomatic talks but the faceoff continues in pockets along the 3,800-km (2,360-mile) frontier.

The two ministers met ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's (SCO) defence ministers' gathering in New Delhi.

It is also the first visit by a Chinese defence minister to India since the violence in the Himalayas began in May 2020.

Both India and China have withdrawn troops from some areas on the northern and southern banks of Pangong Tso, Gogra and Galwan Valley, but continue to maintain extra troops as part of a multitier deployment.

A Line of Actual Control separates Chinese and Indian-held territories from Ladakh in the west to India’s eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims in its entirety. India and China fought a war over their border in 1962.