Rajnath likely to meet China defence minister at Laos

New Delhi:Defence minister Rajnath Singh is likely to meet his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun next week in Laos on the sidelines of the 11th Asean Defence Ministers Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) to be held from November 20-22. According to some reports the Chinese side has requested a meeting with Singh.

This would be the first meeting between the defence ministers of the two countries after the completion of the disengagement in Depsang and Demchok in the Ladakh sector.

This would be also be the first meeting of Singh with Dong after his appointment as Chinese defence minister in December last year.

Last meeting between the defence ministers of the two countries was held in Delhi when then Chinese defence minister Li Shangfu had come to India to attend the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers’ Meeting in April 2023. The tension in the bilateral relation then was evident as Singh did not shake hands with General Li during the meeting

something which was noticed by the experts and analysts.

However, the tension between the two sides has come down after Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting in Kazan.

During his visit to Laos next week, Singh is likely to present India’s position on dealing with major security challenges facing the region. ADMM-Plus is a platform comprising 10-nation Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and its eight dialogue partners -- India, China, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States.

Laos is hosting the meeting in its capacity as the current chair of ADMM-Plus. The meeting is likely to deliberate on the situation in the Indo-Pacific as well as ways to combat the threat of terrorism. India became the dialogue partner of the Asean in 1992 and the inaugural ADMM-Plus was convened in Hanoi in October 2010. Since 2017, the ADMM-Plus ministers have been meeting annually to bolster regional security co-operation.