Watch: PM Modi meets Chinese President Xi Jinping | India says peace, stability on LAC is vital
In their first formal bilateral meeting in five years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday (October 23, 2024) welcomed the agreement for a resolution of the military stand-off at the Line of Actual Control announced earlier this week, as officials said they have now “set the process in motion for bringing [India-China] relations back to a normal path”.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Modi told Mr. Xi that maintaining peace and stability on the border should be a “priority” for both sides, but did not go into details of how the stand-off began in April 2020, when the Chinese PLA amassed troops along the LAC and transgressed the boundary, leading to a counter-deployment by the Indian Army.
In the talks held on the sidelines of the ongoing BRICS summit in Kazan, the leaders decided to restart dialogue mechanisms between Foreign Ministers and other officials to “stabilise and rebuild bilateral relations” that have been virtually suspended on most issues other than the boundary situation, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement after the meeting. They also tasked Special Representatives on the boundary question, National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister and senior Politburo member of the Chinese Communist Party Wang Yi to meet at an “early date” to take forward the larger questions of resolving the boundary dispute.
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“We believe that the India-China relationship is very important not only for our people but also for global peace, stability and progress,” said Mr. Modi. “Maintaining peace and stability on the border should remain our priority. Mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual sensitivity should remain the basis of our relations,” he added.
Mr. Modi and Mr. Xi had last met for formal talks in Mamallapuram and the BRICS Summit in Brasilia in 2019, and held unscheduled interactions at the G-20 Summit in Indonesia in 2022, and the BRICS Summit in South Africa in 2023.
Strong ties
“Both the people in our two countries and the international community are paying great attention to our meeting,” Mr. Xi began his comments, calling on both India and China as “ancient civilisations, major developing countries, and important members of the Global South” to take bilateral relations in the “right direction” as they had historically. “It is important for both sides to have more communication and cooperation, properly handle our differences and disagreements to facilitate each other’s development,” he added.
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A readout by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also quoted Mr. Xi as saying it was important that the two countries “see each other as an opportunity for development and do not pose a threat to each other” and “are partners rather than competitors”.
Briefing journalists in Kazan before departing for Delhi, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, who had on Monday first announced the agreement on “patrolling arrangements” and resolution of pending issues, gave more details of the breakthrough, although neither side has yet released the text of the agreement.
Mr. Misri said that after an impasse on the disengagement process in 2022, both Indian and Chinese officials had been involved in trying to find a resolution in the areas of Depsang and Demchok. He said that the “next steps” would involve “activating” bilateral mechanisms on various fronts.
While stating that the agreement would “certainly lead to an easing of the situation along the LAC”, Mr. Misri declined to comment on whether it would mean that Indian and Chinese soldiers would now not need to spend another “freezing” winter season at the boundary. “I would defer this question to our military leadership, because this relates to operational matters, and I think it would be best that we let our military leaders dwell on this particular issue,” Mr. Misri said, also side-stepping questions about the resumption of the Kailash-Mansarovar yatra or the restoration of direct travel routes between the two countries until the officials concerned meet.
When asked whether Russian President Vladimir Putin had played a “peace-making” role in the timing of the LAC agreement, which was forged between military and diplomatic officials on Monday after weeks of intense negotiations, Mr. Misri said that both sides could “certainly thank Russia for providing the venue”.
If the disengagement process, followed by the “de-escalation and de-induction” process goes ahead, officials said that they expect to see meetings between Mr. Wang and both Mr. Doval and External Affairs Minister Jaishankar in the next few weeks.
While Mr. Modi might meet Mr. Xi or Chinese Premier Li Qiang at other multilateral events in the next few months, he is also due to visit China for the SCO Heads of State Summit in 2025.
Mr. Misri said that Mr. Modi had promised “India’s full support to China’s SCO presidency” next year during the meeting on Wednesday, where both leaders were flanked by their Foreign Ministers, NSAs and other key officials.
Published – October 23, 2024 07:03 pm IST
