PM Modi meets Chinese President Jinping at BRICS informal gathering

Hamburg [Germany], July 7 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping at the BRICS leaders' informal gathering and had a conversation on 'a range of issues.'

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Gopal Baglay took to Twitter and posted a picture of the two leaders exchanging pleasantries at the gathering.

"At d BRICS leaders' informal gathering @ Hamburg hosted by China, PM @narendramodi and President Xi had a conversation on a range of issues," Baglay tweeted.

The much anticipated meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Jinping amid the on-going stand-off between India troops and PLA troops at the Doklam.

The standoff was triggered by a Chinese manoeuvre on June 8 hours before Prime Minister Modi met with Jinping at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Astana.

"The atmosphere is not right for a bilateral meeting between President Xi and Prime Minister Modi," a Chinese Foreign Ministry official had said ahead of the G-20 Summit.

While, in response to a query regarding Prime Minister's schedule in Hamburg, the official spokesperson of the MEA said that as mentioned earlier, the Prime Minister's pre-planned bilateral meetings on the sidelines are with Argentina, Canada, Italy, Japan, Mexico, R.O.K., U.K. and Vietnam, and not with China, as speculated.

New Delhi has expressed its serious apprehensions over Beijing constructing a road in the Sikkim sector of the LAC. The two leaders had met last month at the SCO Summit in Astana.

India claims Sikkim border as part of its territory, China has said that the area falls on their side as per the 1890 treaty signed between British and China.

Consequently, China suspended the annual Kailash Manasarovar yatra and conceded that the decision to suspend the pilgrimage was due to the border scuffle.

It also alleged that the Indian troops had crossed the Sikkim sector of the Indo-China border. Beijing has accused New Delhi of violating a convention signed in 1890 between Britain and China relating to Sikkim and Tibet.(ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI