A delegation from the Communist Party of China met office-bearers of the Bharatiya Janata Party in New Delhi on Monday, marking the first engagement between the two parties since the Galwan clashes in 2020.
Vijay Chauthaiwale, head of BJP’s foreign affairs unit, said on social media that the delegation of the Communist Party of China led by Sun Haiyan, who is vice-president of its international liaison department, visited the headquarters of the Hindutva party.
A BJP delegation headed by party General Secretary Arun Singh “discussed at length the means to advance inter party communications between BJP and CPC”, Chauthaiwale added.
The six-member delegation from China’s ruling party will meet members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Tuesday, The Hindu reported. The RSS is the parent organisation of the BJP.
The BJP and the Communist Party of China have maintained contacts since the late 2000s, with several delegations from the Hindutva party visiting Beijing to meet Chinese leaders.
In 2009, a delegation of BJP and RSS leaders visited China.
The meeting on Monday was the first since border tensions between India and China escalated in June 2020 when a violent face-off between Indian and Chinese soldiers took place in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley along the Line of Actual Control. It led to the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers. Beijing said that the clash left four of its soldiers dead.
The clashes led to strained ties between India and China. The two countries have held several rounds of military and diplomatic talks to resolve their border standoff.
In October 2024, the two countries announced that they had reached a patrolling arrangement along the Line of Actual Control, “leading to the disengagement” of the two militaries in eastern Ladakh.
The agreement in 2024 had come two days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan. This was the first formal meeting of the two leaders since the military standoff began in mid-2020.
The meeting on Monday also came in the backdrop of a thaw in bilateral relations. New Delhi and Beijing last year agreed to restore direct flights, ease visa restrictions and resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.
The delegation from the Communist Party of China is also expected to meet members of the Opposition Congress, The Hindu quoted unidentified party leaders as saying.
However, Congress leader Supriya Shrinate on Tuesday criticised the BJP’s meeting with the Chinese delegation.
“China supported Pakistan during Operation Sindoor,” Shrinate said in a social media post. “Our brave soldiers were martyred in Galwan. China is sitting there after encroaching in Ladakh. It is settling villages in Arunachal Pradesh. And here, hugs are being exchanged.”
The BJP and the Congress have traded accusations over ties with Beijing.
The Hindutva party has repeatedly accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other party leaders of signing a “secret” Memorandum of Understanding with the Chinese Communist Party during a visit to Beijing in 2018, India Today reported.
It also alleged that Gandhi met Chinese officials at the Chinese embassy in Delhi during the Doklam standoff in 2017. The Opposition party has rejected the allegations.
The Congress has repeatedly accused Modi of being “scared of China” and failing to respond firmly to Beijing’s aggression along the Line of Actual Control.
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