Put issues related to border in 'proper place': Chinese FM Qin to Jaishankar

India and China should put the boundary issue in the “proper place” in bilateral relations and work together to bring the situation at their borders "under normalised management" as soon as possible, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang conveyed to his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar, the foreign ministry in Beijing said on Friday.

Qin's first in-person meeting with Jaishankar on Thursday came on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers conclave in New Delhi amid the over 34-month-long border row in eastern Ladakh. Qin took charge as Chinese foreign minister in December, succeeding Wang Yi.

India has been maintaining that its ties with China cannot be normal unless there is peace in the border areas.

Jaishankar conveyed to Qin that the state of India-China relations is "abnormal" as their talks focused on addressing the challenges in bilateral ties, especially that of peace and tranquillity in the border areas.

"We also had a brief discussion on what was happening in the G20 framework. But the thrust of the meeting was really on our bilateral relationship and the challenges in the bilateral relationship, especially that of peace and tranquillity in the border areas," Jaishankar said.

Qin told Jaishankar that both sides should implement the important consensus of the leaders of the two countries, maintain dialogue and properly resolve disputes, and promote the improvement of bilateral ties and the steady moving forward of the relations, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted an official press release from the Chinese foreign ministry as saying.

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