China’s woos India as both face Western ire over Ukraine

But his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyan Jaishankar, downplayed the prospects for an immediate rapprochement with China and said the border talks were “works in progress.” Relations could not return to normal so long as the territorial disputes remained unresolved, Jaishankar told reporters on Friday following a three-hour meeting with Wang.

Wang’s visit, initiated by China, came at a sensitive moment for both countries: Beijing has faced Western pressure, and the possibility of sanctions, over its support for an increasingly isolated Russia. India, meanwhile, has also drawn criticism from Western capitals over its continued refusal to condemn Russia or cut off its purchases of Russian arms and oil despite its growing role as a partner to Washington.

As sanctions over Ukraine war mount, Russia turns to India to buy oil and arms

During a meeting with Indian National Security adviser Ajit Doval on Friday, Wang pitched China and India as two Asian powers that should stand together. Both countries sought national rejuvenation but should not pose a threat to the other, he said, according to a lengthy readout provided by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

“China does not pursue the so-called ‘unipolar Asia’ and respects India’s traditional role in the region,” Wang told Doval, according to the Chinese statement. “If China and India spoke with one voice, the whole world will listen. If China and India joined hands, the whole world will pay attention.”

Wang’s entreaties marked a striking reversal following two years of tough talk and recriminations between the two nuclear-armed neighbors that have fought three wars with each other. Soldiers from both sides died in skirmishes in 2020, and both militaries have ramped up troops, weapons deployments and infrastructure in the sensitive region.

During the run-up to the Beijing Winter Olympics in February, China designated a soldier involved in the June 2020 clash with Indian troops to be a torchbearer, infuriating Indian officials. Chinese state media outlets have also frequently criticized India or belittled its national power.

But as the Ukraine war erupted in recent weeks and India kept its distance from the Western bloc’s criticism of Russia, China has softened its rhetoric toward its neighbor.

Western officials worry this is an attempt to peel India away from the rest of the Quad, the Indo-Pacific partnership that includes the United States, Japan and Australia. The prime ministers of Japan and Australia both spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the past week to reaffirm their commitment to India, while Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland visited New Delhi on Monday.

Speaking to Indian media this week, Nuland urged India to stand on the side of democratic countries.

The “tightening alignment” between China and Russia “isn’t good for us and is not good for India,” Nuland was quoted by the Indian Express as saying. “As the autocracies tighten their relationship … it is very important for the democracies to stand together.”

China, irked by the Quad, faces up to a wary world

Jaishankar, the Indian foreign minister, told reporters Friday that he and Wang had shared their views about the Ukraine conflict, but did not provide details. Both India and China agreed on the importance of an immediate cease-fire and return to dialogue, he said.

Wang did not press India on its role in the Quad, Jaishankar said.

In recent weeks, as India came under criticism for buying discounted oil from Russia, Indian officials have expressed irritation at what some have called Western hypocrisy. In an appearance before the Indian Parliament on Thursday, Jaishankar said he agreed with the assessment that the West was playing a “double game” and lecturing India about its dealings with Russia even though NATO members continue to buy Russian energy themselves.

Victor Gao, a former Chinese Foreign Ministry official who serves as vice president of the Center for China and Globalization in Beijing, said India shared “similar, if not identical” views with China on the Ukraine conflict and should not bow to the West.

India and China “refuse to condemn Russia for the so-called invasion, they refuse to join in sanctions against Russia and they walk a very tight rope between Russia and Ukraine,” he said. “I don’t think it is responsible for countries like the United States, or Western countries as a whole, to try to lecture countries like China or India, or try to impose their sanctions onto China or India, and to force them to follow the line of Washington.”

In New Delhi, the response to talk of a China-India thaw was more circumspect.

C. Raja Mohan, a senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said although India and China both shared complex ties with Russia, “any suggestion that India is going to be bending over backward to be nice to the Chinese because there is a Russian problem is, I think, somewhat preposterous.”

The two governments needed to resolve their border dispute first, he said, before India would countenance a rapprochement.

“Whatever the Chinese have said in public,” he said, “there is no evidence that they were ready to really sort all the problems.”

Dou reported from Shanghai. Vic Chiang in Taipei, Taiwan contributed reporting