Modi Talks To Xi, Both Agree On ‘Expeditious Disengagement & De-escalation’ Of Troops At LAC

Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday that 'observing and respecting' the LAC are essential for the normalisation of the bilateral ties

Modi-Xi Meeting in South Africa: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday held a “conversation” on the margins of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the military standoff in the Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) figured in it. Both leaders agreed to direct officials for an “expeditious disengagement and de-escalation” of the troops, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said at a press conference.

Addressing the media post the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, Kwatra during the conversation with President Xi, Prime Minister Modi highlighted “India’s concerns on the unresolved issues along the LAC” in the western sector of the India-China border areas. 

“Prime Minister underlined that the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas and observing and respecting the LAC are essential for the normalisation of the India-China relationship. In this regard the two leaders agreed to direct their relevant officials to intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and de-escalation,” said Kwatra. 

The Foreign Secretary added, “The interaction (between Modi and Xi) captures the essence of the relationship between India and China. Our leadership, my foreign minister, has made India’s position on India-China relations clear ample number of times, reiterated several times and I don’t think that position needs to be repeated.”

According to official sources, there was a pending request from the Chinese side for a bilateral meeting. But that did not take place. Instead, both the leaders had an informal conversation in the Leaders Lounge during the BRICS Summit.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said both leaders had a “candid and in-depth” exchange of views. “President Xi stressed that improving China-India relations serves common interests of the two countries and peoples, and is also conducive to peace, stability and development of the world and the region,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added, “The two sides should bear in mind the overall interests of their bilateral relations & handle properly the border issue so as to jointly safeguard peace and tranquillity in the border region.” 

This meeting between both leaders comes just weeks ahead of President Xi’s visit to India for the G20 Summit, which will take place in Delhi on 9-10 September. The leaders last met in November 2022 on the margins of the G20 Summit held in Bali, Indonesia when both leaders discussed the need to stabilise the India-China bilateral ties. 

The Johannesburg meeting, sources said, happened because of the groundwork done in advance by National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who’s also a key official Communist Party of China.

Earlier this month, India and China held the 19th round of corps-commander-level talks at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point of the border area. But nothing concrete came out of that in terms of disengagement and de-escalation. Following this, yet another meeting was held but this time at the Major General level. These talks were held to resolve the issues at Depsang Plains and Charding Nilung Nullah (CNN) Junction. 

The standoff between the Indian Army and China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) began in April-May 2020. Since then New Delhi has been demanding a return to the status quo ante. So far, troops on both sides have disengaged from Pangong Tso, Galwan Valley, Gogra (PP-17A) and Hot Springs (PP-15).