As India-China Ties Turn 75, New Delhi Reminds Beijing Of “Lessons” Learnt

This is an important highlight of the Foreign Secretary's speech.

1. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri is the chief guest of the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi, and has established India-China relations and held the event for 75 years. Chinese ambassador Xu Feihong and India's Foreign Secretary took the opportunity to cut the cake before talking about the relationship between the two Asian giants.
2. In his nearly seven-minute speech, Foreign Secretary Vikram Mithri highlighted the “lesson” that both countries should keep in mind in order to develop stronger bonds. He began his speech. “As a modern nation, we only had a formal bond for 75 years. India and China share cultural and civilized connections and contacts between people.”
3. He spoke about the important contributions of the characters of Bodhidharma, Kumarajiva, Xuanzang and Rabindranath Tagore towards the cultivation of historical Indian-China relations. He added, “Our two civilizations play an important role in shaping human history, each in their own way. This has the lessons of modern connections.”
4. Speaking about the second lesson, Misri said, “In the past few years, India-China relations have gone through difficult stages. However, the two countries have solved several problems, primarily because of the leadership of our leaders, dispelling the efforts of political leaders, military leaders and diplomatic colleagues and maintaining communication throughout this time. Border regions are important for the smooth development of our overall bilateral relationship.”
5. He continues, “Based on this basic understanding, shared at a meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi Jinping in Russia, the two countries are working together to chart the roadmap for bilateral relations, returning to a stable, predictable, and friendly path.”
6. The Foreign Secretary shared details of the efforts made at the political, military and diplomatic levels, saying, “For the past five months, there have been two meetings between the Foreign Minister in November 2024 and February 2025. The Minister met with his Chinese counterpart in November 2024 and had the opportunity to visit Beijing in January 2025, and held a very productive meeting with my counterpart.”
7. India and China have said that “we have decided to take some steps to resume practical cooperation between our two countries. Among these firsts is the reopening of Kailash Mansaroval Yatra this year,” he said.
8. He pointed out that these steps are important and most important in restoring mutual trust between the two countries and strengthening people-to-people relationships. Emphasizing the responsibility that two major economies have to protect, Mithri said, “As two large neighbours in a critical part of the world, stable bilateral relations between our nations contribute to the whole of humanity.
9. Before closing his speech, the Foreign Secretary spoke about the “third lesson” that both countries should keep in mind. “The durable basis for rebuilding our bonds are three formulas: mutual respect, mutual sensitivity, and mutual interest.”
10. In his closing remarks, the Foreign Secretary admitted that “the path forward may be difficult, but the path we are preparing,” adding that “we saw a promising beginning at the end of seven and a half years based on these measures we have already taken in the past five months.” This should now be “turned into concrete benefits” for the people of both of our countries, he said.