Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday shook hands, greeted each other, and had a quick conversation on a “range of issues” on the sidelines of the BRICS leaders’ informal meeting in Hamburg. In Beijing, however, in a completely contrasting mood, China continued with its anti-India posturing over the ongoing face-off in the Sikkim sector.
In a commentary, Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua said India should immediately pull back its “trespassing troops” from Doklam area
for any meaningful bilateral dialogue to take place.
The commentary says the three-week face-off was caused by Indian border guards who crossed the border at the Sikkim section into Chinese territory and obstructed routine road construction work in the Doklam area of China’s Tibet Autonomous Region.
It says India has tried to justify its incursion in the name of protecting Bhutan, arguing that Doklam is Bhutanese territory. It, however, maintains that according to the Convention between Great Britain and China Relating to Sikkim and Tibet (1890), Doklam belongs to China.
Modi and Xi are in Germany to attend the G-20 Summit. While Xi urged the countries to push for “peaceful settlement” of regional disputes in his statement at BRICS forum, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang in his media briefing said that “ulterior motives” prompted India to include the tri-junction with Bhutan in the Sikkim standoff and asserted that New Delhi’s acceptance of the 1890 Sino-British treaty on the boundaries in the area should not change with the passage of time. Geng also questioned India’s stand that Doklam is part of the strategic tri-junction also known as the Chicken’s Neck.
The troops of the two countries at the Sikkim border are in face off for over 20 days now. The China has accused India of trespassing into its territory and demanded India pull back its troops from Doklam area for any meaningful dialogue to take place.
It was expected that a meeting between Modi and Xi may help defuse the tension on the borders as it happened in September 2014 when the troops of both sides were face-to-face at the Chuman border in the western sector. Modi had then raised the border issue with Xi, who had expressed that non-demarcation of boundary leads to standoff. The two countries have sufficient mechanism to deal with these situations, he added.
Modi and Xi appeared very comfortable and showered praises on each other. Modi appreciated the momentum in the BRICS bloc under the Chinese chairmanship and extended full cooperation for the grouping’s upcoming Summit to be hosted by China. Friday’s meeting was in run up to the forthcoming 9th BRICS Summit in September in Xiamen, China.
Xi appreciated India’s strong resolve against terrorism and the momentum in BRICS introduced under India’s Chairmanship and through the outcomes of the Goa Summit in 2016.
He also appreciated India’s success in economic and social development and wished India even bigger success.
In his speech at the BRICS leaders meeting, Modi mentioned that the forum has been a strong voice and needs to show leadership on terrorism and global economy as he stressed that G20 should collectively oppose terrorism financing, franchises, safe havens, support and sponsors. On economic front, the PM advocated collective voice against the practices of protectionism, especially in the spheres of trade and movement of knowledge and professionals. He reiterated India’s commitment to implementing Paris Agreement in letter and spirit and described its implementation globally as essential to fighting climate change.