POSITIVE signals of accommodation are emerging from Beijing close on the heels of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s meeting with the new Chinese President Xi Jinping last week.
Follow up:
China has agreed to some key meetings, which hints at a strategic shift of sorts in its approach towards India.
A meeting on Afghanistan is scheduled later this month between a Chinese delegation led by Luo Zhaohui, director general ( Asia) in its foreign ministry, and an Indian team headed by Yash Sinha, additional secretary in charge of Afghanistan in the ministry of external affairs.
For China, this is a big shift considering it has never recognised India’s role in Afghanistan. For the first time, Beijing will discuss with India the post- 2014 scenario in Kabul — when a majority of the US- led NATO troops will exit the war- ravaged country — and how the two neighbours can cooperate on Afghanistan.
