New Delhi: Not long afterwards his meddlesome statement on Kashmir, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi landed in Delhi.
Wang Yi will meet India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday here.
This is the first visit by a top Chinese official since the clash in Galwan in June 2020 and the following border standoff in eastern Ladakh.
Because of uncertainty over his visit, authorities would not confirm it until the flight landed here.
Earlier participating at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) foreign ministers' meet in Islamabad, he said China was sharing the same aspirations of many Islamic friends. He was referring to Kashmir issue.
India retorted that China had no locus standi to comment on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, India's internal matter.
India's foreign spokesperson Arindam Bagchi rejected Chinese Foreign Minister's 'uncalled for reference to India'. Other countries including China have no locus standi to comment on India's internal affairs. Also the spokesperson asked such nations to note that India refrains from public judgment of their internal issues.
En route to India, Wang Yi had an unscheduled stopover in Kabul to meet Afghanistan's Taliban rulers.
The two sides reportedly discussed matters including the extension of political relations, economic, and transit cooperation.
At the time of Wang Yi's visit, Vladimir Putin's special envoy to Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov's was also touring Kabul.
Both India and China held several rounds of diplomatic and military level talks. The 15th round of high-level military talks on March 15 was to resolve issues in the in eastern Ladakh.
Over the last two years, the foreign ministers have met a few times outside India to discuss bilateral issues.