Modi and Xi seek to reset India-China ties on BRICS sidelines

The two leaders ‘expressed commitment’ to resolving contested border issue, India’s foreign ministry said.

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The leaders of India and China have agreed to work together towards resolving the contested border issue, according to the foreign ministry in New Delhi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping met on Saturday on the sidelines of ⁠⁠the summit of the BRICS group of emerging nations in New Delhi.

It is Xi’s first trip to India in seven years and the biggest step yet in a cautious thaw between the nuclear-armed rivals is being closely watched.

“Although our two countries are different in many respects, they are fully capable of complementing each other’s strengths, supporting one another, achieving mutual success and advancing together,” Xi said in a video released from New Delhi as he met Modi.

After the meeting, India’s foreign ministry said “the two leaders expressed commitment to a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable resolution of the boundary question”.

Modi “underlined the need for both sides to observe existing agreements and understandings on border related issues,” the statement added.

They pledged to build up their countries’ cultural, business and transport ⁠⁠links, New Delhi said.

“On economic and trade relations, they underlined the need to address each other’s concerns, including structural trade imbalance and supply chain issues, and facilitation of meaningful and predictable market access,” it added.

Areas for cooperation growing

Xi said Beijing has always viewed and developed China-India relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, reported the state-run Xinhua news agency.

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Institutional exchanges between the two countries are gradually being ⁠⁠restored, the list of areas for cooperation is growing and bilateral trade has reached a new high, Xi said, according to Xinhua.

Xi landed in New Delhi earlier on Saturday with his entourage, including Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, and high-ranking Chinese Communist Party official, Cai Qi.

The trip comes six years after the deadly military clash along India and China’s disputed border, with ties gradually improving through restored flights, visas and high-level contacts.

The underlying territorial dispute in the Tibet region remains unresolved and both sides retain heavy military deployments along their roughly 3,500km (2,175 mile) high-altitude border.

“They are looking for ‘early and substantial harvest’ when it comes to the border issue,” Pradeep Taneja, a China-India expert at the University of Melbourne, said, as reported by the AFP news agency. “You cannot have a buildup of your forces on the border … but at the same time say ‘we should continue to have people-to-people relations and economic relationships.'”

Deep mistrust remains, however, with their contested Himalayan frontier, a widening trade deficit and strategic rivalry still complicating ties.

Dozens of Tibetans living in exile, including their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, protested in New Delhi on Friday, waving placards against Xi’s visit.

BRICS leaders gather

The Russian and Iranian presidents were among the leaders who arrived in the Indian capital on Friday for the BRICS summit.

On Saturday, the 11-nation bloc issued a joint declaration calling for calm in the Middle East and stressing the need to work together to maintain the smooth flow of global trade.

The conflicts in Palestine, Iran and Ukraine, along with global trade turbulence and energy security, were expected to dominate the two-day meeting.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin held talks with Modi on Friday and agreed to further strengthen the “special” relationship between their countries.

During a meeting with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, Modi underscored the need to protect freedom of navigation and commerce, as well as the safety and wellbeing of ships’ crews.

India has navigated the energy crisis caused by the United States-Iran war in part by turning to Russia, despite Moscow’s war in Ukraine and pressure from Washington and other Western capitals.

BRICS was created in 2009 as a forum for major emerging economies seeking greater influence in institutions dominated by Western powers.