Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets PM Modi in Delhi ahead of SCO Summit

Wang Yi handed over the invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit being held in Tianjin.

They discussed advanced military and diplomatic issues after the 2020 border standoff in eastern Ladakh.

Modi stressed the importance of "maintaining peace and tranquillity on the border, and reiterated India's commitment to a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable resolution of the boundary question", according to a statement by the government.

The meeting comes amid the imposition of hefty tariffs by US PresidentDonald Trump on India for buying Russian oil.

Wang Yi is in India as part of a three-day visit as a precursor to the upcoming SCO Summit.

Earlier in the day, Wang Yi held talks with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval during the 24th round of Special Representatives' discussions on the boundary issue.

Doval said the "bilateral engagements have been more substantial" with the onset of peace at the borders.

He said, "...There has been an upward trend. Borders have been quiet. There has been peace and tranquillity. Our bilateral engagements have been more substantial. And we are most grateful to our leaders who, in Kazan last October, were able to set a new trend, and we have profited a lot since then.

"The new environment that has been created has helped us in moving ahead in the various areas that we are working on..."

On June 15, 2020, Indian and Chinese troops engaged in a six-hour clash in the rugged terrain of Ladakh, engaging in hand-to-hand combat with makeshift weapons such as stones, batons, and iron rods.

The face-off occurred in near-complete darkness and freezing temperatures, leading to fatalities as soldiers fell or were pushed from ridges.

Twenty Indian soldiers were martyred in the clash, while China officially acknowledged four casualties, although reports indicate higher Chinese losses, as soldiers drowned in the choppy waters of the Galwan River.

Late last year, India and China reached a consensus and agreed to disengage along the border "in a coordinated and planned way".

Both armies withdrew from their positions to their respective positions on their sides and verified each others' positions after that.

For over four years, the two countries were engaged in a military standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) following the Galwan clash which took place in June 2020.

Yi's visit signals the resumption of top-level Delhi-Beijing contact - this is his first visit to India in three years since the deadly Galwan clash in 2020.

The meeting also occurred ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's upcoming visit to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit.

The regional bloc's summit will be held in Tianjin city from August 31 to September 1.

Wang Yi also met Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during the visit.