According to Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra, on the margins of the BRICS meeting, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a conversation during which they both agreed on a “expeditious de-escalation” in the eastern Ladakh area.
“It was a conversation with President Xi Jinping and, as I said, on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit. Prime Minister (Modi) had interactions with other BRICS leaders (as well). In that conversation with President Xi Jinping, the prime minister highlighted India’s concerns at the unresolved issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the western sector of the India-China border areas,” Kwatra stated.
India and China have argued over the Line of Actual Control since the 1950s. In 1962, they engaged in a fight for it.
According to the Indian source, PM Modi informed Xi that “maintenance of peace, tranquillity in border areas, and respecting LAC” are crucial for the improvement of relations between China and India.
“Modi and Xi agreed to direct relevant officials to intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement, de-escalation,” Kwatra added.
The Indian and Chinese troops are engaged in over three-year stand-off in certain friction points in eastern Ladakh even as the two sides have initiated extensive diplomatic and military talks to disengage their troops.
There have been 19 rounds of discussions at the commander’s level so far, with the most recent one concentrating on finding solutions to problems in the Depsang Plains and Demchok.
Doval expressed that the situation across the LAC in the western sector of the India-China border since 2020 has “eroded strategic trust” and the social and political foundation of the relationship, according to a statement from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs.
According to the report, the NSA stressed the significance of continuing efforts to thoroughly settle the issue and restore calm and peace in the border regions in order to eliminate obstacles to regular bilateral relations.
Following the intense combat in the Galwan Valley in June 2020, which was the biggest important military conflict between the two sides in decades, relations between the two nations took a sharp turn for the worst.
