India's top diplomat in China met a senior official of the Chinese foreign ministry and had a candid and friendly exchange of views on bilateral relations, international and regional situations, ahead of the key Congress of the ruling Communist Party which is due to discuss pressing global issues.

Indian Ambassador Pradeep Kumar Rawat met Liu Jinsong, the Director General of the Asian Affairs of the foreign ministry, on Tuesday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry press release here said on Wednesday.

The two officials had a candid and friendly exchange of views on China-India relations, international and regional situations and issues of common concern, it said.

Both sides were tight-lipped about specific issues discussed at the meeting.

The meeting assumes significance as China prepares for the once-in-a-five-year Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) which sets policy directives on both national and international issues. Chinese President Xi Jinping is widely expected to be endorsed for a record third term at the meeting.

The 20th Congress is due to begin its session from October 16.

India-China ties suffered a setback due to a military standoff at Eastern Ladakh in May 2020.

The Indian and Chinese militaries have held 16 rounds of Corps Commander-level talks to resolve the standoff.

Indian and Chinese militaries on September 12 had moved back their frontline troops to the rear locations from the face-off site of Patrolling Point 15 in the Gogra-Hotsprings area in eastern Ladakh and dismantled temporary infrastructure there as part of a five-day disengagement process.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi are scheduled to attend the G20 Summit in Bali next month.

During Tuesday's meeting, Liu informed Rawat of the "progress in the issuance of visas by China to Indians specially the stranded students studying in Chinese universities.

So far, more than 1,300 Indian students have been given visas and 300 businessmen have returned to Chinese city of Yiwu, the world's largest commodity hub by chartered flights.

Over 2,300 Indian students, mostly studying medicine, were stuck back in India due to China's visa bans.

Indian officials said over 100 Indian students have returned to China so far.

After repeated representations, China began issuing visas to those students who have received confirmation from their colleges.

However, most of them struggled to return as there are no direct flights between the two countries. Most of them are travelling through Hong Kong and third-country air routes to travel to China.

There is no breakthrough in India-China talks to resume direct flights due to Beijing's policy of abrupt cancellations of flights if any COVID cases are found in the coming flights, according to official source here.

Officials say the resumption of direct flights is unlikely in the near future unless China scraps its policy to cancel flights if any passenger is tested positive as the airlines are not involved in the testing process.