Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday conveyed it to the Chinese President Xi Jinping that India-China 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 – in the Russian city of Kazan on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit.
As PM Modi emphasised that relations between India and China are important not only for people of the both countries, but also for global peace, stability and progress, the Chinese President 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 civilisations, major developing countries, and important members of the Global South. We are both at a crucial phase in our respective modernisation endeavours. 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.
“It’s important for both sides to have more communication and cooperation, properly handle our differences and disagreements and to facilitate each other’s pursuit of development aspirations. It’s also important for both sides to shoulder our international responsibility, set an example for boosting the strength and unity of the developing countries and to contribute to promoting multi polarization and democracy in international relations,” he added.
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 on Monday reached an agreement on patrolling along the nearly 3500-km Line of Actual Control (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. The relevant dialogue mechanisms at the level of Foreign Ministers and other officials will also be utilized to stabilize and rebuild bilateral relations,” read a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) after the meeting between the two leaders.
It added that the two leaders affirmed that stable, predictable, and amicable bilateral relations between India and China, as two neighbours and the two largest nations on earth, will have a positive impact on regional and global peace and prosperity.
“It will also contribute to a multi-polar Asia and a multi-polar world. The leaders underlined the need to progress bilateral relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, enhance strategic communication and explore cooperation to address developmental challenges,” the statement mentioned.
On Monday, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri had confirmed that the Indian and Chinese diplomatic and military negotiators have been in close contact with each other in a variety of forums over the last several weeks after which an agreement was arrived at on patrolling arrangements along the LAC, leading to disengagement and a resolution of the issues that had arisen in the specific areas in 2020.
On Tuesday, as Xi Jinping left for Kazan, the Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed the patrolling arrangements in the India-China border areas.
As the Chinese side attempted to transgress the LAC in other areas of the Western Sector of the India-China border areas, the two sides have been engaged in discussions through established diplomatic and military channels to address the situation.
On Monday, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar said that the latest agreement creates the basis for peace and tranquillity which should be there in the border areas and existed before 2020 – something which had been India’s major concern over the past few years for the bilateral relationship to turn normal.
“At various points of time, people almost gave up. We have always maintained that on the one hand, we had to obviously do the counter deployments… But, side by side, we have been negotiating since September 2020 when I met my Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow. It has been a very patient process, maybe more complicated than what it could and should have been. The fact is that if we are able to, as we now have, reach an understanding regarding patrolling and observing the sanctity of the LAC, then, I think, it creates the basis for peace and tranquillity which there should be in border areas and existed there before 2020,” remarked Jaishankar while speaking at the NDTV World Summit.
