ISTANBUL

China on Thursday indicated willingness to revive trilateral cooperation with Russia and India, saying it contributes to global security.

“The cooperation among China, Russia, and India not only aligns with the respective interests of the three countries, but also contributes to regional and global peace, security, stability, and progress,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a news conference in Beijing.

Lin was responding to a statement by Russian deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko who said Moscow was negotiating the restoration of the Russia–India–China format.

“China is willing to maintain communication with Russia and India to advance trilateral cooperation,” Lin said.

According to Rudenko, the trilateral cooperation will “resume when China and India return to the previous level of relations.”

China, Russia and India are members of the BRICS as well as Shanghai Cooperation Organization but ties between Beijing and New Delhi spiraled down since late 2019.

However, the two Himalayan neighbors have of late taken steps to restore calm along the Line of Actual Control – the de facto border between China and India in disputed Jammu and Kashmir.

“The Russian side welcomes the positive developments in Indian-Chinese relations and expects that they will have a positive impact on the positions of New Delhi and Beijing regarding the resumption of the trilateral mechanism,” the Russian Foreign Ministry told daily Izvestia.

Beijing, Moscow and New Delhi have engaged in trilateral format since 1996, which was proposed by then-Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov, according to the Russian daily.

Later, the trio held their first meeting of the foreign ministers in 2002 at the UN.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a trilateral meeting in 2018 and later in 2019, an informal leaders' summit was also held on the sidelines of the G20 heads of state meeting in Japan.