In a bid to avoid Doklam-like situation, India and China on Tuesday decided to make more efforts, including strong contact and cooperation between their Defence personnel to ensure that the border stand-off does not recur. This was announced by Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar after a “constructive and forward-looking” bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping. “Met President Xi Jinping. We held fruitful talks on bilateral relations between India and China,” Modi tweeted later after the over hour-long meeting with Xi.
Modi and Xi also talked about inter-Governmental mechanism such as joint economic group, security group and strategic group which can help both countries move forward. This was the first substantive meeting between the two leaders after the 73-day Doklam face-off.
Xi told Modi, “Healthy and stable bilateral ties (were) in line with fundamental interests of the two nations… China is willing to work with India on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence to improve political mutual trust, promote mutually beneficial cooperation and push Sino-Indian ties along a right track.”
Briefing the media on Tuesday, Jaishankar said, “I think one of the important points which was made in the meeting was that peace and tranquility in the border areas was a prerequisite for further development of the bilateral relationship… It is natural that between large powers there would be areas of difference and it should be handled with mutual respect… Efforts should be made to find common ground in those areas.”
Asked if Modi raised the issue of sanctions against Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar and terrorism emanating from Pakistan, Jaishankar said these were not discussed.
Meanwhile, China’s Foreign Ministry said both countries must shelve their differences and seek common ground and together ensure peace on the border. “We hope India can view China’s development in a correct and rational way. We need to show to the world that the peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation is the only right choice between the two countries,” spokesperson Geng Shuang said.
The stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops began in June at Doklam when Indian troops entered the area and stopped the Chinese road work, angering Beijing. The border row seriously affected Sino-Indian relations until the two countries settled the issue by recalling their troops from Doklam last month.