External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday said that relations between India and China were “steadily improving” and called for the continued normalisation of the bilateral ties.

During a meeting with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, Jaishankar said that the relations were improving since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China’s President Xi Jinping met in the Russian city of Kazan in October.

“I am confident that my discussions in this visit will maintain that positive trajectory,” he said.

The resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra was widely appreciated in India, Jaishankar said, adding that “continued normalisation of our ties can produce mutually beneficial outcomes”.

Jaishankar is in China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation foreign ministers’ meeting.

The regional inter-governmental body established in 2001 comprises India, China, Belarus, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

This is Jaishankar’s first visit to China since the skirmishes of 2020.

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 death of 20 Indian soldiers. Beijing said that the clash left four of its soldiers dead.

Following this, both countries deployed thousands of troops along with heavy artillery in the region.

Since the Galwan clashes, China and India have held several rounds of military and diplomatic talks to resolve their border standoff.

In October, 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 came two days before Modi and Xi 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.