Foreign Secretary Gokhale holds talks with Foreign minister

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Friday amid continuing tensions in bilateral relations following last year's Doklam standoff.

The Indian Embassy, through a tweet, announced the visit of Gokhale, who was also the former Indian envoy to China, on Saturday.

"The foreign secretary is visiting China to discuss the bilateral agenda, exchange plans and visits for 2018," the Indian Embassy in Beijing said.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement late Friday night on Gokhale's talks with Wang.

"We hope that the Indian side will handle sensitive issues prudently and work with China to promote the sound development of China-India relations," Wang said, apparently referring to an array of sensitive issues between India and China, including the current developments in the Maldives.

According to the press release, Gokhale said he was pleased to visit China at the very beginning of his term.

A series of bilateral visits are expected in the lead up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting China in June for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit to be held at Qingdao city, according to the reports.

--ANI