Overview

• External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar landed in Beijing on July 14 for his first in-person visit to China since the 2020 Galwan Valley standoff.
• He is scheduled to meet Vice President Han Zheng and Foreign Minister Wang Yi ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Tianjin.
• New Delhi aims to leverage the talks to advance normalization by pressing for resumption of direct flights and securing commitments on rare earth supplies.
• India will seek formal acknowledgement of the Pahalgam terror attack following its refusal to endorse the SCO defence communique in Qingdao due to the omission.
• Both sides completed phased troop withdrawals from the last face-off sites in October 2024 and now plan to address the Dalai Lama succession as a key sticking point.