Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a meeting during the 2023 BRICS Summit at the Sandton Convention Center in Johannesburg on August 24, 2023. Marco Longari/Pool via REUTERS Purchase license rights
JOHANNESBURG, Aug 24 (Reuters) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, outlining India’s concerns over border issues along the way. along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the Indian External Affairs Secretary said. .
Modi and Xi agreed to “instruct their relevant officials to step up efforts to speed up the withdrawal and de-escalation,” Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said.
Relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbors have been sour for more than three years after soldiers from both sides clashed on the Himalayan border in June 2020, resulting in 24 deaths.
While the situation on the nearly 3,000-kilometer (1,860-mile) border has been calm since then, fighting continues in some areas.
On the sidelines of the BRICS summit, Modi highlighted to Xi “India’s concerns about unresolved issues in LAC,” Kwatra said.
Modi also “stressed that maintaining peace and tranquility in the border areas, and observing and respecting LAC are essential for the normalization of India-China relationship,” the Foreign Secretary said.
This is the first time Modi has raised the issue directly with Xi, repeating India’s position that has been shared with China through other ministers on multiple occasions.
The two leaders interacted on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia last year, but only exchanged pleasantries and discussed the need to stabilize ties, the Indian government said recently.
Discussions have been held at various levels to find solutions to border issues, but a solution remains elusive.
Just before the two leaders traveled to Johannesburg, military commanders held talks for five days along the Himalayan border in an attempt to find a breakthrough. While both sides said the talks had been positive, there was no word of a troop withdrawal on the ground.
Chinese foreign and defense ministers visited India earlier this year to attend the G20 and Shanghai Cooperation Dialogue events and met with their Indian counterparts.
Reporting by Bhargav Acharya, Tannur Anders; written by Krishna Kaushik; editing by Jonathan Oatis
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