Prime Minister Narendra Modi, attending the BRICS summit in Russia, will hold his first bilateral meeting today with Chinese President Xi Jinping since the 2020 Galwan clash. The two leaders are scheduled to meet in Kazan, as announced yesterday by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri.
“I can confirm that there will be a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping tomorrow on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit,” Mr. Misri stated. The BRICS group includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
This bilateral meeting represents a positive development in India-China relations following a recent agreement on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control.
The two leaders, who arrived in Kazan on Tuesday for the BRICS summit, have had only two brief interactions since the 2020 clash: at the G20 summit in Bali in 2022 and the BRICS summit in Johannesburg in 2023.
Yesterday, PM Modi met with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during the summit and stressed the importance of peace in West Asia. He also engaged in bilateral talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, emphasizing the need for a peaceful resolution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
First India-China Bilateral Since 2020
The upcoming bilateral meeting between PM Modi and Xi Jinping will be the first since the 2020 confrontation between the troops of both countries.
In June 2020, Indian and Chinese forces clashed in the Galwan Valley, leading to a significant standoff along the Line of Actual Control. Both sides incurred casualties, and relations between the two nations deteriorated as a result.
The two sides have engaged in a series of military and diplomatic talks over the past couple of years, leading to the disengagement of troops from several friction points. In a recent breakthrough expected to ease tensions, the two countries reached a patrolling agreement along the Line of Actual Control this week.
Following the agreement, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar stated at the NDTV World Summit that Indian and Chinese soldiers would be able to patrol the border areas as they did before the 2020 confrontation.
Mr. Misri noted that the immediate focus of the patrolling deal would be on disengagement, while discussions on de-escalation and the reduction of troops would be addressed at a suitable time.
