NEW DELHI: Veteran diplomat and India’s high commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami will be India’s next ambassador to China. An IFS officer of 1992 batch, he is expected to take up his new assignment shortly, the govt announced Thursday.Doraiswamy served as a young diplomat in Beijing from 1996 to 2000 and is said to be fluent in Mandarin. His appointment comes in the middle of a growing rapprochement between India and China after five years of border hostilities that were sparked by the deadly military clash at Galwan in eastern Ladakh in June 2020. The general uptick in interest displayed by both sides to rebuild ties saw India easing restrictions on Chinese FDI earlier this month.
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With Doraiswami’s appointment, India is also signalling to China the importance it attaches to managing the steadily improving, but complex relationship with Beijing amid mounting global uncertainties. Doraiswamy is also seen as the right man for handling a likely visit to India this year by Chinese President Xi Jinping for the Brics summit. He was coordinator for the 4th Brics summit that India hosted in 2012. In a significant breakthrough last year, PM Modi agreed with Xi during his visit to Tianjin last year for the SCO summit that India and China are development partners and not rivals. The new ambassador will look to build upon the commitment expressed by both leaders to a reasonable and mutually acceptable resolution of the boundary question, from the political perspective of overall relations and long-term interests of the people of both countries.Doraiswami has extensive experience of managing some of India’s key relationships, having served in the past as the head of the Americas division in the MEA where he was in-charge of ties with the US and Canada. The seasoned diplomat has also served as India’s ambassador to South Korea and Uzbekistan and as high commissioner to Bangladesh. He has also served in India’s UN mission in New York and has experience of working as a private secretary to India’s Prime Minister.
