NEW DELHI:India and China should adopt a “candid and constructive” approach in moving ahead in the engagement after a difficult period and it must be based on mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar conveyed this to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Monday.

In his televised opening remarks at a meeting with Wang, the external affairs minister also pitched for taking forward the de-escalation process in the border areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh that witnessed over a four-year face-off between the militaries of the two nations.

Jaishankar held wide-ranging talks with the Chinese foreign minister shortly after he landed in Delhi on a two-day visit that came days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s planned trip to China to attend the annual summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).