India and China’s foreign ministers met in New Delhi in a renewed effort to ease tensions that have significantly hurt relations after a five-year border standoff. India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, welcomed Wang Yi for talks aimed at stabilizing relations which had plunged in 2020 following a deadly clash between security forces along the disputed Himalayan border. This violence, the worst in decades, resulted in the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers, leading to a freeze in high-level political engagements between the two nuclear-armed Asian rivals.

Since the 2020 incident, both sides have deployed tens of thousands of security forces in the border areas, and have simultaneously fortified their borders by building roads and rail networks. However, some progress towards de-escalation has been made. Last year, India and China agreed to a pact on border patrols and withdrew additional forces from some border areas. Jaishankar, in his opening remarks, called for further de-escalation of border tensions to provide positive momentum to bilateral ties, emphasizing the need for a candid and constructive approach from both sides. Wang Yi acknowledged that there has been peace and tranquility along the borders and noted China’s allowance for Indian pilgrims to visit key places in the Tibet autonomous region.

The Chinese foreign minister’s visit included a meeting with India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval to discuss the way forward for bolstering the relationship. Wang stated that the setbacks experienced were not in the interest of the people of both countries and expressed heartenment over the stability now restored in the borders. Wang Yi was also scheduled to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, with discussions expected to cover reducing the number of troops on the border and possibly resuming trade in the contested region. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning affirmed Beijing’s willingness to use Wang’s visit as an opportunity to work with India to properly handle differences and promote stable China-India relations, continuing in-depth communication to safeguard peace and tranquility in border areas.

The thawing of relations between Beijing and New Delhi began in October when Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met at a summit of emerging economies in Russia, marking their first in-person conversation since 2019. Modi is also set to visit China later this month, his first visit in seven years, to attend the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Earlier this year, Xi Jinping called for India and China’s relations to take the form of a “dragon-elephant tango.” In recent months, the countries have increased official visits, discussed easing trade restrictions, facilitating movement of citizens, and issuing visas for businesspeople. Last week, India’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, confirmed discussions were underway to restart trade through three points along their 3,488-kilometer border.

Manoj Joshi, a fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, characterized the current state of relations as an “uneasy level of normalization,” stressing that settling the boundary issue requires