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China-India border dispute
ChinaMilitary

Xi and Modi agree at Brics to prioritise de-escalation efforts at the Himalayan border

  • Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledge to direct negotiators to ‘intensify’ efforts to ease tensions on Sino-Indian border
  • The two nations have been unable to resolve issues stemming from the 2020 clash in the Galwan Valley that killed at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers

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Chinese President Xi Jinping (centre) listening to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a Brics event on Thursday. Photo: EPA-EFE
Khushboo Razdanin New York
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking on the sidelines at the Brics summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, agreed on Thursday to seek a speedy resolution to a three-year stand-off along the Himalayan border area between the two countries.

Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra told a news briefing on Thursday that Modi had spoken to Xi and highlighted India’s concerns about the unresolved issues along the “Line of Actual Control” (LAC) – the effective Sino-India border.

“The prime minister 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,” Kwatra said.

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The two leaders, he continued, had “agreed to direct the relevant officials to intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and de-escalation”.

From left, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva; Xi; South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Modi; and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov after a photo shoot at the Brics summit in Johannesburg on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters
From left, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva; Xi; South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Modi; and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov after a photo shoot at the Brics summit in Johannesburg on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters
The Chinese foreign ministry described the “exchange of views” as “candid and in-depth”, adding that Xi stressed that improving China-India relations served the interests of the two countries and was “conducive to peace, stability and development of the world and the region”.
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“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 tranquility in the border region,” the statement read.
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