On Wednesday, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said India’s ties with China have seen noticeable improvement. While speaking at the CNN News 18 Rising Bharat Summit 2025, he shared that both countries are now discussing related matters such as COVID-19, restarting direct flights, and resuming the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.

“The relationship is much better than before. I think the disengagement, particularly the Depsang Demchok, was important,” the EAM Jaishankar conveyed. “We are now addressing, to some extent, the issues on the border because there has been a force build-up over a period of years. Many other things also happened during this period. Some of it was collateral to the situation, and some of it was a carryover from the Covid era,” he further said.

“For example, our direct flights stopped during Covid. They were not resumed. The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra stopped during Covid and did not resume. So, I think there is work to be done. We are at it. We are trying to see whether we can make progress on a lot of these issues post-Covid and parallel to the border tensions. We are looking into it because, at the end of the day, we’ve always maintained that the situation between 2020-2024 was not in the interest of either country; it was not in the interest of our relationship. I think there is recognition of that now, and we are moving in a positive direction,” EAM stated.

Back in October 2024, India and China came to an understanding of patrolling protocols in the Depsang Plains and Demchok, two sensitive spots along the Line of Actual Control. This progress followed earlier troop pullbacks at other conflict zones in eastern Ladakh, achieved through diplomatic and military discussions.

That same month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Kazan during the 16th BRICS Summit. During the meeting, PM Modi welcomed the deal for a total disengagement and the resolution of issues that had emerged since 2020 along the border. He stressed the need to manage differences calmly and avoid anything that could disrupt peace and stability in the region.