Indian PM Modi raised border issue with China’s Xi on sidelines of BRICS

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke at the sidelines of the BRICS summit where both leaders agreed on “expeditious de-escalation" in the eastern Ladakh region, informed Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra while briefing reporters on Thursday (Aug 24).

“It was a conversation with President Xi Jinping and, as I said, on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit. Prime Minister (Modi) had interactions with other BRICS leaders (as well). In that conversation with President Xi Jinping, the prime minister highlighted India's concerns at the unresolved issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the western sector of the India-China border areas,” Kwatra said.

The Line of Actual Control has been disputed by India and China since the 1950s. They went to war over it in 1962.

PM Modi told Xi that “maintenance of peace, tranquillity in border areas and respecting LAC” are essential for the normalisation of India-China ties, the Indian official said.

“Modi and Xi agreed to direct relevant officials to intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement, de-escalation,” Kwatra said.

The Indian and Chinese troops are engaged in over three-year stand-off in certain friction points in eastern Ladakh even as the two sides have initiated extensive diplomatic and military talks to disengage their troops.

India and Chinese troops talks

So far, 19 rounds of talks have taken place at the commander's level, with the latest one focussing on the resolution of issues in Depsang Plains and Demchok.

Before this, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi on the sidelines of a meeting of the five-nation grouping BRICS in Johannesburg on July 24.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs in a statement said that Doval conveyed that the situation along the LAC in the western sector of the India-China boundary since 2020 had "eroded strategic trust" and the public and political basis of the relationship.

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It said the NSA emphasised the importance of continuing efforts to fully resolve the situation and restore peace and tranquility in the border areas so as to remove impediments to normalcy in bilateral ties.

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India has been maintaining that its ties with China cannot be normal unless there is peace in the border areas.

The eastern Ladakh border standoff erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong Lake area.

The ties between the two countries nosedived significantly following the fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.

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