India-China ties linked to peace at LAC: Common thread at past 3 Modi-Xi meets

India’s insistence on linking ‘maintenance of peace’ along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with continued bilateral relations with China, has been a common thread at the last three meetings between PM Narendra Modi and Chinese President  Xi Jinping in the past two years.

When the two leaders met on Saturday on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit, Modi reiterated that ‘peace and tranquillity’ in the border areas remained an ‘essential basis’ for continued development of bilateral ties with China.

India has maintained the stance on ‘border areas’ taken at the previous two meetings post the ‘easing’ of tensions along the LAC in eastern Ladakh.

Modi and Xi had meet at Kazan, Russia, in October 2024. They followed up with another meeting in Tianjin, China, in August 2025.

At both meetings, Modi’s stance was clear, on holding ‘peace at borders’. At Tianjin, the PM had “underlined the importance of peace and tranquillity on the border areas for continued development of bilateral relations”.

At Kazan, fresh from the four-year (2020-2024) military stand-off in Eastern Ladakh, Modi had "underscored the importance of properly handling differences and disputes and not allowing them to disturb peace and tranquillity".

At yesterday’s meeting, Modi maintained there was a need for both sides to observe existing agreements and understandings on border related issues, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Saturday.

Analysts say, Modi’s reference to the ‘agreements’ stems from the fact that the two countries have a series of ‘agreements on maintaining peace along the LAC . These were breached by the People’s Liberation Army of China when it clashed with Indian Army at multiple places along in Eastern Ladakh during the period May-August 2020.

During Saturday meeting, Modi and Xi ‘welcomed’ the steady progress in India-China bilateral relations since their last meeting in Tianjin.

Both have reaffirmed that “differences should not become disputes,” and it had happened within a week of Senior military commanders of both sides having conducted two ‘dispute resolving flag meetings’ in as many days along the LAC - the de-facto boundary between the two countries -- in Arunachal Pradesh. The two meetings happened on September 6 and 7.

Sources said the meetings at the LAC happened within a month of the misunderstanding between the two militaries near Taksing in the Upper Subhansiri district of the state. Taksing is under the command of 3 Corps of the Indian Army. The Indian Army has taken a firm stance in dealing with the position taken by the Chinese troops in the area where these issues are going on, sources said.

India and China have different perceptions of the Line of Actual Control in their territories and at times, that leads to issues on the ground.

Earlier in August, Special Representatives of India and China -- National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi -- met in Beijing on August 25 and agreed to continue and seek a ‘political settlement’ of the disputed boundary between the two countries to address long-term interests of either side.