Bula Devi reports from New Delhi
New Delhi Oct 23:- Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Chinese President Xi Jinping that “mutual trust, mutual respect, and mutual sensitivity should continue to be the basis of our relations”. Modi said this on Wednesday when he met Xi on the sidelines of the Brics summit in Kazan, capital of Tatarstan in Russia.
With cameras swiftly catching the fleeting moments when both the leaders shook hands with their respective national flags behind them, it was a moment of hope for the future.
It was the first bilateral meeting between the two leaders in about five years. In October 2019, they met for an informal summit in Mahabalipuram; it took place just months before the Chinese incursion in eastern Ladakh leading to military stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
In Kazan, Modi and Xi met two days after the announcement of an agreement between the two countries for “complete disengagement and resolution of issues that arose in 2020” in the India-China border areas. The Prime Minister emphasised the importance of properly handling differences and disputes and not allowing them to disturb peace and tranquility.
Besides the breakthrough on the agreement, in a significant development the two leaders also agreed on a future course of action.
Modi and XI agreed that the “Special Representatives” on the boundary question would meet at an “early date” to oversee the management of peace and tranquility in the border areas and to “explore a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the boundary question,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said.
Also, the relevant dialogue mechanisms at the level of Foreign Ministers and other officials will also be utilised to “stabilise and rebuild bilateral relations”.
The leaders of the two giant nations also 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 MEA stated.
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 ministry added.
On Tuesday, while speaking on the sidelines of the Colonel Pyare Lal Memorial Lecture, organised by the United Service Institution of India, the Indian Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi underscored the need for the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA to first “restore trust” in each other.
He said it was necessary to first “restore trust” and then look at “disengagement, de-escalation and normal management” of the LAC.
