“China ready to maintain communication with Russia and India on advancing the trilateral cooperation,” says Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian

As US and its NATO allies mount greater pressure on Russia on ending the conflict with Ukraine and threaten to impose secondary sanctions on crude oil, separate statements originating from New Delhi and Beijing have, today, been positive on reviving the Russia-India-China format.

In New Delhi, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, today, while answering media questions on the revival of Russia-India-China format said: “The revival will be worked out among the countries in a mutually convenient manner.” This is a consultative format where three countries come and discuss global and regional issues of interest to them, Jaiswal said when asked about positive opinion of China and Russia on reviving the format.

Earlier this morning, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian had set the ball rolling. “China stands ready to maintain communication with Russia and India on advancing the trilateral cooperation,” Lin had said at media briefing in Beijing today.

“China-Russia-India cooperation not only serves the respective interests of our three countries, but also helps uphold peace, security, stability and progress in the region and world,” Lin added.

A few days ago, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said that Russia is negotiating the restoration of the Russia–India–China (RIC) format with Beijing and New Delhi. He pointed out that Russia remains positive towards promoting the operation of this mechanism.

Meanwhile, when asked if Prime Minister Narendra Modi would visit to China for Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) leaders summit, Jaiswal said, “The SCO meeting is some months away. The participation by countries are finalised as per the mutual convenience. We will let everyone know at the appropriate time.”

Earlier this week External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was in China and had met his counterpart Wang Yi and raised issues of resolution of matters of the border areas and restrictive trade practices by Beijing.