China ready to supply fertilizer, rare-earths and tunnel machines to India

As the two nations moved toward normalizing their relations, visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi gave External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar the assurance that his nation would resume the much-needed supply of fertilizers, rare earth minerals, and tunnel boring machines (TBM) on Monday. This was a positive bilateral outcome for India and China.

During his visit to China last month, EAM Jaishankar reportedly brought up the subject of rare earth mineral supply, TBM, NPK and DAP, and urea with Minister Wang Yi.

Jaishankar did not, however, address the subject of boundary negotiations and border concerns, as National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will do so during today’s Special Representative Dialogue. This evening, Minister Wang will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. EAM Jaishankar assured his Chinese counterpart that India’s stance on Taiwan remained unchanged and that, like the rest of the world, India maintained diplomatic connections for both economic and cultural reasons. Despite the friendly discussions, US President Donald Trump was the talking point, even though all parties agreed that Washington’s current actions required them to get closer.

It was widely held that both China and India would be the targets of US policies and actions, and that communication between the two countries was necessary to help them weather the uncertainties.

The fact is that Beijing had halted Indian imports for almost a year, so China’s agreement to supply fertilizers, TBM, and rare earths is a significant milestone. Nearly 30% of India’s agricultural fertilizers, rare earths for car parts, and tunnel boring machines for the construction of roads and urban infrastructure come from China.

The sensitive subject will be brought up and extensively discussed by NSA Ajit Doval in the SR level talks, with the primary focus being on de-escalation of forces on the 3488 km Line of Actual Control (LAC), even though border talks were not a part of the Jaishankar-Wang meeting. The Indian and Chinese armies are still gathered on the border, thus it is necessary to send the troops back to their barracks even though the boundary disputes and patrolling problems in Ladakh have been resolved.