From who called the meeting to what was agreed upon to resolve border tensions — gross contradictions have clouded the events of the meeting that took place between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Johannesburg on Thursday night.
While the Chinese official statement mentioned that Jinping talked with Modi “at the latter’s request”, the Indian side on Saturday morning refuted the same, saying there was “a pending request from the Chinese side for a bilateral meeting” and added that only an “informal conversation” had happened between both leaders.
Also, while Indian foreign secretary said the “two leaders agreed to direct their relevant officials to intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and escalation” at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the Chinese statement skipped mention of an agreement. China only said the two sides “should properly handle the border issue so as to jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in the border region”.
Interestingly, PM Modi had bilateral meetings with Iran President Ebrahim Raisi, Senegal President Macky Sall, Ethiopia President Abiy Ahmed Ali, and bilateral cum-delegation-level talks with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit.
The foreign secretary on Thursday did not term the talks with Jinping as ‘bilateral talks’. MEA sources now say it was only an ‘informal conversation’ in the leaders’ lounge at BRICS Summit. India had never confirmed before the visit that an India-China bilateral was slated at BRICS and now it seems that India did not agree to such a bilateral meeting despite a pending request from the Chinese side. Jinping is scheduled to come for G20 Leaders Summit in Delhi next month.
Hopes have been high lately for a resolution of the border tensions after military talks between both sides were held earlier this month for the first time over two days. The same tended to reflect in the foreign secretary’s statement on Thursday.
“It was conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping. In that conversation, PM Modi highlighted India’s concerns on the unresolved issues along the LAC in the western sector of the Indo-China border areas. PM underlined that maintenance of peace and tranquility in the border areas and observing and respecting the LAC are essential for the normalization of the India-China relationship.”
The Chinese side in a statement said the two leaders had a “candid and in-depth exchange of views of the current India-China relations and other questions of shared interest. President Xi stressed that improving India-China relations serves the common interest of the two countries and peoples, and is also conducive to peace, stability and development of the world and the region.”
News18 has earlier reported that India has got feelers that China is veering towards the idea of resolving the border tensions as it is wary of the growing India-US strategic relationship and also that China is facing trouble on its other front of Taiwan. All eyes are now on the G20 Leaders Summit and if Jinping will attend it and there is movement towards resolution.
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