Swaraj to visit China this week, to take part in SCO meet

The India-China rapprochement
post-Dokalam is set to pick up pace as External Affairs
Minister Sushma Swaraj is due to visit here this weekend to
take part in the foreign ministers' meeting of the SCO and
Swaraj, who will arrive here on April 21 for a four-day
visit, will hold talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi

on April 22 to take forward attempts by both countries to
reset ties strained by last year's 73-day Dokalam military
This will be Swaraj's first meeting with Wang after he
was elevated last month to be state councillor, which makes
him the top diplomat in the Chinese hierarchy. He holds the

She is also scheduled take part in the Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers' meeting on
April 24 besides meeting Chinese Hindi scholars and students,
Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be
visiting China virtually around the same time. Sitharaman is
also due to take part in the SCO defence ministers' meeting on
The SCO meetings are a prelude to the summit of the
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to take part in
the SCO summit to be held in the Chinese city of Qingdao in
Foreign and defence ministers of Pakistan are also
SCO, in which China plays an influential role, is

comprised of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia,
The visit of Swaraj and Sitharaman were taking place as
India and China stepped up high level exchanges to defuse
Ahead of Swaraj's talks with Wang, National Security
Advisor Ajit Doval met Director of China's Foreign Affairs
Both sides also held the 11th Joint Economic Group
Besides meetings between officials from the two foreign
ministries, both sides held working mechanism meeting on
border affairs and cross border rivers as well Disarmament and
Non-Proliferation Dialogue in which India's entry into the
Commenting on the meetings, Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokesperson Hua Chunying told media here yesterday that

bilateral ties between both countries "this year" are
developing with sound momentum and a number of meetings
between top officials have "seen" new progress and all round