Ready to deliver on Modi-Xi ‘deal’ to improve ties: China

China has said it stands ready to deliver on important common understandings reached between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping during the recent BRICS summit leading to a thaw in the relations frozen for over four years due to a military standoff in eastern Ladakh.

“Recently, President Xi Jinping met with Indian PM Narendra Modi on the margins of the BRICS summit in Kazan,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a media briefing here while responding to a question on the likelihood of a meeting the two leaders on the sidelines of G20 summit in Brazil.

“China stands ready to work with India to deliver on the important common understandings between the leaders of the two countries, step up communication and cooperation and enhance strategic mutual trust,” he said, adding he had no information on the specifics of the meeting of the leaders and officials.

At their Kazan meeting, the two leaders endorsed the India-China agreement on patrolling and disengagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh and issued directions to revive various bilateral dialogue mechanisms, signalling attempts to normalise ties that were hit by a deadly military clash in 2020.

In the nearly 50-minute meeting held at Kazan, Modi underscored the importance of properly handling differences and disputes and not allowing them to disturb peace and tranquility in border areas and that mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual sensitivity should remain the basis of the relations.

Xi said China-India relations were essentially a question of how the two large developing countries and neighbours, each with a 1.4-billion-strong population, treated each other.

China and India should maintain a sound strategic perception of each other and work together to find the “right and bright path” for big, neighbouring countries to live in harmony and develop side by side, he said.