Modi and Xi meet for first time since Himalayan clashes
NEW DELHI/BEIJING – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday (10) for the first time – if only virtually – since a deadly military stand-off on their disputed border led to a sharp deterioration in bilateral ties.
The two leaders addressed the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), hosted online by Russia. Topics on the agenda included the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and terrorism, among other issues.
“India has strong cultural and historical ties with SCO countries … India believes that to enhance connectivity, it is important that we move forward while respecting one another’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Modi said, in remarks interpreted by domestic media as a veiled message to China.
Due to the online format of the summit, the two leaders could not have a bilateral meeting to speak about ongoing border disputes, unlike their last encounter, at the SCO’s 2019 summit.
In June, 20 Indian soldiers were killed near the Chinese-Indian border in the worst clash between the two neighbours in 45 years. China has never confirmed any deaths.
Both sides have accused the other of transgressing the so-called Line of Actual Control, an informal border in the high-altitude Ladakh region where both nuclear-armed countries claim territory.
India and China have mobilized large numbers of troops. Some are still eyeball-to-eyeball at 3,000 metres above sea level in rugged Himalayan terrain, even as winter sets in.
The two countries fought a brief border war in 1962 and dispute several sections along their ill-defined, 3,500-kilometres long border.
-dpa