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Newly appointed Chinese Ambassador to India has arrived in in Delhi to take charge. (Image: Chinese Mission)
Xu Feihong appointed as new Ambassador to India amid prolonged Ladakh standoff. Diplomatic tensions continue between Beijing and New Delhi
Senior Chinese diplomat Xu Feihong arrived in New Delhi on Friday to take charge as the country’s new Ambassador to India after a delay of 18 months amid frozen ties between the two neighbours over the eastern Ladakh military standoff.
The 60-year-old diplomat, appointed by President Xi Jinping, is the 17th Chinese Ambassador to India. He is China’s former Ambassador to Afghanistan and Romania. He will succeed 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.
“On 10th May 2024, H.E. Xu Feihong, the newly appointed Chinese Ambassador to India, arrived in New Delhi to assume office.Officials from the Protocol Division of Ministry of External Affairs of India, Dean of Diplomatic Corps, Ambassador of Eritrea to India Alem Tsehaye Woldemariam and Minister Ma Jia, Minister Wang Lei, Minister Counselor Chen Jianjun from the Chinese Embassy greeted the ambassador and his wife Tan Yuxiu at the airport,” the Chinese mission in India said in a statement.
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. Ties 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 eastern Ladakh standoff has resulted in a freeze of bilateral ties.
The two sides have so far held 21 rounds of corps commanders-level talks to resolve the standoff. According to the Chinese military, the two sides so far agreed to disengage from four points, namely the Galwan Valley, the Pangong Lake, Hot Springs, and Jianan Daban (Gogra). India is pressing the People’s Liberation Army to disengage from the Depsang and Demchok areas, maintaining that there cannot be restoration of normalcy in its relations with China as long as the state of the borders remains abnormal.
(With agency inputs)
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