Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised concerns about problems created by China’s territorial ambitions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) during a conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg.
According to Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra, PM Modi and Xi Jinping decided to direct their relevant officials to intensify efforts at expedited disengagement and de-escalation along the LAC between India and China.
After soldiers from the two nuclear-armed neighbours clashed near the Himalayan frontier in June 2020, which resulted in 24 deaths, relations between the two have been tense for more than three years.
Since then, the situation on the 1,860-mile (almost 3,000-km) LAC between India and China has been largely peaceful, but there are still certain areas where fighting has taken place.
PM Modi brought up to Xi Jinping “India’s concerns on the unresolved issues along the LAC” outside of the BRICS summit, according to Kwatra.
PM Modi “underlined that the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas, and observing and respecting the LAC, are essential for the normalisation of the India-China relationship,” the foreign secretary said.
For the first time, PM Modi has brought up the subject in-person with Xi Jinping , reiterating India’s position that had previously been communicated to China via other ministries.
According to recent statements from the Indian government, the two presidents just exchanged courtesies and talked about the need to stabilise relations during their encounter at the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia last year.
There have been discussions about border issues at many levels, but a solution has remained elusive.
According to China’s official Xinhua news agency, which reported the meeting was at Modi’s request, Xi told Modi that enhancing China-India relations served the interests of both nations and was beneficial to peace, stability, and prosperity.
“The two sides should bear in mind the overall interests of their bilateral relations and handle properly the border issue so as to jointly safeguard peace and tranquillity in the border region,” Xi said.
Military leaders met for five days near the Himalayan border just before the two leaders’ trip to the BRICS summit in Johannesburg in an effort to reach a breakthrough. Despite claims to the contrary from both parties, there was no information regarding any withdrawal of forces from the field.
For G20 and Shanghai Cooperation Dialogue events earlier this year, the Chinese foreign and defence ministers met with their Indian counterparts while in India.
