According to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Modi made a significant agreement on stabilizing China-India relations in Bali at the end of the previous year.
For the first time, the government stated on Thursday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping had discussed the “need to stabilize bilateral relations” eight months after their first face-to-face encounter in public since the start of the standoff along the Line of Actual Control in May 2020.
The above occurred at the G20 Summit in Bali.
Photo via Reuters.
Indian officials stated that the “Prime Minister and President Xi Jinping, who were both attending the G20 dinner hosted by the Indonesian President, exchanged courtesies at the conclusion of the dinner”.
In November of last year, even though there was no substantive readout on their conversation, which was recorded by cameras at the Summit dinner.
But last week, the Chinese Foreign Ministry cited the “important consensus” reached between Xi and Modi at the Bali Summit after National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met with top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi in South Africa on the sidelines of a gathering of BRICS NSAs.
According to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Modi made a significant agreement on stabilizing China-India relations in Bali at the end of the previous year.
In response to inquiries on Thursday, the spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, Arindam Bagchi, stated that “the Prime Minister (Modi) and President Xi Jinping exchanged courtesies at the conclusion of that dinner hosted by the Indonesian President and also spoke of the need to stabilize our bilateral relations.
As you are aware, we have always said that resolving the situation along the LAC on the western portion of the India-China border and bringing calm to the border regions is the key to resolving this entire issue.“
After more than three years of the military standoff along the LAC in eastern Ladakh, where 50,000–60,000 troops are stationed, this is the regular template answer.
Modi and Xi’s handshake in Bali happened toward the end of the dinner. The two leaders exchanged greetings as Xi passed past.
After shaking hands and having a quick, informal talk, the camera panned elsewhere, and the feed was cut off.
And earlier this week, Doval told Wang Yi that the LAC situation since 2020 had “eroded strategic trust and the public and political basis of the relationship” in one of his most acerbic comments on the border conflict in the past three years.
On the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers conference in New Delhi in March of this year, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had a chance encounter with the newly appointed Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang.
Wangi Yi has since taken over for him, but Qin Gang was ousted from his position this week. When they discussed the standoff, Jaishankar referred to the existing status of the bilateral relationship as “abnormal”.
Despite the brief and informal nature of the exchange between Modi and Xi in Bali, it signifies a step towards re-engaging and addressing the challenges in the bilateral relationship.
In recent encounters between Indian and Chinese officials, concerns about the abnormal state of the relationship have been raised, emphasizing the need to restore strategic trust.
As the situation continues to evolve, both India and China will need to engage in further discussions and diplomatic efforts to find a resolution to the border tensions and work towards stabilizing their bilateral relations.
