TINJIAN: Indian Premier Modi has revealed that New Delhi was committed to improve ties with Beijing in a key meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping on Sunday, as both countries resolved to put aside differences from a years-long border standoff.
Modi is in China for the first time in seven years to attend the two-day moot held in connection with 25 Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), along with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders from Central, South and Southeast Asia and the Middle East in a show of Global South solidarity.
“We are committed to progress our relations based on mutual respect, trust and sensitivities,” Modi told Xi during the meeting on the sidelines of the summit, according to a video clip posted on the Indian leader’s official X account.
The bilateral meeting took place five days after Washington imposed punishing 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods due to New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil.
Analysts were of the view that Xi and Modi are looking to present a united front against Western pressure.
Modi said an atmosphere of “peace and stability” has been created on their disputed Himalayan border, the site of a prolonged military standoff after deadly troop clashes in 2020, which froze most areas of cooperation between the nuclear-armed strategic rivals.
He added that an agreement had been reached between both nations regarding border management, without giving details.
“We must … not let the border issue define the overall China-India relationship,” Chinese state media outlet Xinhua reported Xi as saying.
China-India ties could be “stable and far-reaching” if both sides focused on viewing each other as partners instead of rivals, Xi added.
Both leaders had a breakthrough meeting in Russia last year after reaching a border patrol agreement, setting off a tentative thaw in ties that has accelerated in recent weeks as New Delhi seeks to hedge against renewed tariff threats from Washington.
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