Mutual trust, respect, and sensitivity key to future of India-China ties, PM Narendra Modi tells President Xi Jinping during their first bilateral meeting in five years.
Kazan (Russia): Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping do not meet often but when they do, the world leaders keep their ears to the ground as the two Asian nations have had strained diplomatic relationships for far too long.
During their meeting in the Russian city of Kazan on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit, PM Modi conveyed to the Chinese President that bilateral ties have to be based on three mutuals — mutual trust, mutual respect, and mutual sensitivity — if they have to return to a positive trajectory and remain sustainable.
"We welcome the consensus reached on issues that have arisen on the India-China border in the last four years. Maintaining peace and stability on the border should remain our top priority. Mutual trust, mutual respect, and mutual sensitivity form the basis of our relations," said PM Modi in a significant bilateral meeting with Xi Jinping — the first at the delegation level in nearly five years.
As PM Modi emphasized that relations between India and China are important not only for people of the both countries, but also for global peace, stability, and progress, President Xi also acknowledged that people in both countries, and even the international community, are keeping a close watch on the meeting.
"China and India are both ancient civilizations, major developing countries, and important members of the Global South. We are both at a crucial phase in our respective modernization endeavors. It best serves the fundamental interests of our two countries and two peoples for both sides, to keep the trend of history in the right direction of our bilateral relations," remarked Xi Jinping.
The breakthrough in bilateral talks, first after the violent Galwan Valley face-off between the soldiers of the two countries at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in June 2020, was made possible after New Delhi and Beijing reached an agreement this week on patrolling along the nearly 3500-km LAC to end the four-year-long border confrontation.
The two leaders agreed that the Special Representatives on the India-China boundary question will meet at an early date to oversee the management of peace and tranquility in border areas and to explore a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the boundary question.
