‘Look forward to working hard for China-India ties’: New Chinese envoy

After an unusual long delay of 18 months, newly-appointed Chinese Ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, arrived in Delhi on Friday. Upon his arrival, he expressed eagerness to enhance bilateral ties between India and China amid frozen relations.

Xu was appointed as the new ambassador by President Xi Jinping on Tuesday (May 7).

In a post on social media platform X, Xu extended his gratitude to the Ministry of External Affairs official who welcomed him at the airport, and officials from the Chinese Embassy in Delhi for their warm reception.

“Arrived at dawn in Delhi today. Thanks for the warm greetings from MEA official, Dean of Diplomatic Corps H.E. Ambassador Alem Tsehaye Woldemariam of Eritrea to India, and my colleagues from the Embassy. Look forward to working hard with all for China-India relations,” he said.

Xu, 60, has succeeded veteran Chinese diplomat Sun Weidong, who completed his tenure in India in October 2022.

Sun, who was China’s envoy to Pakistan before his India stint, is currently the Vice Foreign Minister overseeing China’s South Asia policy.

“China is ready to work with India to accommodate each other’s concerns and find a mutually acceptable solution to specific issues through dialogue at an early date”, Xu said in interaction with news agency PTI and China’s state-run CGTN-TV, before leaving from Beijing to take up his posting in New Delhi.

Xu’s appointment, which coincides with the ongoing general elections in India, comes amid protracted military and diplomatic negotiations between Beijing and New Delhi to resolve the prolonged military standoff.

“The Chinese side always believes that China-India ties should not be defined by any single issue or area; the boundary question is not the entirety of the relationship. Speaking at the Indian Council of World Affairs in September 2014, President Xi Jinping said that we must not focus our attention only on differences and forget about our friendship and cooperation, still less should we allow the differences to stand in the way of our development and interfere with the overall growth of bilateral relations,” PTI quoted Xu as saying .

Relations between the two countries were frozen except for trade ever since the eastern Ladakh border standoff erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong Tso (lake) area. The standoff also resulted in a freeze of bilateral ties.

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