On April 25, China announced that its Defence Minister General Li Shangfu was travelling to India this week to attend the SCO Defence Ministers meeting. While there, he planned to meet with Rajnath Singh, the Indian counterpart, to discuss resolving the protracted standoff in eastern Ladakh, which has severely strained bilateral relations.
General Li, who is considered as a personal friend of Chinese President Xi Jinping, is visiting India at a critical time given the tense standoff between the Indian and Chinese soldiers in eastern Ladakh that has lasted since May 2020.
According to a statement from China’s Ministry of National Defence (MND), State Councillor and Defence Minister General Li Shangfu will attend the meeting of the Council of Defence Ministers of the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in New Delhi, India, from April 27 to 28.