INDIA: Foreign Sec To Visit China 26-27 Jan

(MNI) London - India's Foreign Ministry has confirmed that Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri will visit Beijing on 26-27 Jan as part of the 'Foreign Secretary-Vice Minister mechanism' between the two countries. Statement says the visit comes "from the agreement at the leadership level to discuss the next steps for India-China relations, including in the political, economic, and people-to-people domains." Sino-Indian relations had appeared to have improved in recent months. PM Narendra Modi met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in late 2024, while an agreement on patrols along the contested Himalayan border between the two countries was viewed as a step towards de-escalation. 

• However, as Anadolu Agency reports "...the detente has not lasted. Earlier this month, China announced it was establishing two new counties in parts of the disputed Ladakh border region it claims control over, a move that has drawn ire from New Delhi, which responded with a diplomatic protest. Further fueling tensions, Beijing also has plans to build a hydropower dam on the Yarlung Zangbo River in Tibet have also raised fresh concerns in downstream India."
• A major influence on relations will be the actions of the Trump administration in the US. Christopher Clary at the Stimson Center told Al Jazeera: “There are twin dangers for India...Trump and his team might be more hawkish than New Delhi’s preferences, especially on trade and investment flows that compel India to make choices it would not like to make. Alternatively, [Trump] may try to make a grand bargain with China to burnish his credentials as the ultimate deal maker. It would leave India in the lurch.”