Kashmir Impulse Desk
New Delhi, Sep 12
Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday that peace and tranquillity along the India-China border were essential for the continued development of bilateral ties and stressed the need to honour existing border agreements.
The two leaders met on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in New Delhi and agreed that India and China should take a strategic and long-term view of their relationship, with differences not allowed to develop into disputes, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said.
Modi and Xi also discussed economic issues, including the structural trade imbalance, supply-chain concerns and the need for meaningful and predictable market access, the ministry said.
The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to a “fair, reasonable, and mutually acceptable” settlement of the boundary question, taking into account the broader political relationship and the long-term interests of both countries.
Modi said bilateral ties should be guided by “mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest”.
The meeting came hours after Xi arrived in New Delhi for the two-day BRICS summit, his first visit to India in seven years.
The talks followed a series of high-level contacts between the two countries, including a meeting in Beijing between India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Modi and Xi last held wide-ranging talks on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin on Aug. 31 last year, according to the supplied report.
India and China have taken steps in recent months to rebuild ties after relations deteriorated following the 2020 Galwan Valley clashes.
The foreign ministry said the two leaders noted progress in bilateral relations since their Tianjin meeting and called for further expansion of people-to-people contacts, cultural exchanges, business links and mobility.
They also agreed to broaden areas of common ground on regional and global issues, the ministry said.
Modi thanked China for supporting India’s BRICS chairship and contributing to the success of the summit.
Xi said China had consistently viewed relations with India from a strategic and long-term perspective and called for greater cooperation between the two countries.
“Although our national conditions differ, we can fully support each other and pursue common development,” Xi said in remarks delivered in Mandarin.
He said India and China, as the world’s two most populous countries and major members of the Global South, had an important role to play amid a complex international environment.
The two countries began repairing relations after more than four years of tensions linked to the eastern Ladakh military standoff, following a meeting between Modi and Xi in Kazan, Russia, in October 2024.
Their discussions have since included efforts to reduce trade imbalances, address terrorism-related concerns and promote fair trade in multilateral forums.
