India denies Chinese claim that PM had sought meeting with Xi at BRICS summit

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, August 25

China has said its President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a “candid and in-depth exchange” of views on current China-India relations and other questions of shared interest.

The two sides indulged in diplomatic sparring after the Chinese claim that PM Modi had sought a meeting with Xi on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg on Thursday.

“There was a pending request from the Chinese side for a bilateral meeting. The two leaders, however, had an informal conversation in the Leaders Lounge during the BRICS Summit,” said sources here, indirectly refuting Chinese Foreign Ministry’s assertion that PM Modi had sought a meeting.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Xi stressed that improving the China-India relations serves the common interests of both sides, and is also conducive to peace, stability and development of the world and the region.

The Indian version of the meeting was more substantive and put the border issue upfront. Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra on Thursday had said at a press conference, “The PM highlighted India’s concerns on the unresolved issues” and “underlined that the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas and observing and respecting the LAC are essential for the normalisation of the India-China relationship.”

Kwatra also said the two leaders agreed to direct their relevant officials to intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and de-escalation. This aspect was not present in the Chinese readout.

The Chinese MFA said Xi told PM Modi, “The two sides should bear in mind the overall interests of their bilateral relations and handle properly the border issue so as to jointly safeguard peace and tranquillity in the border region.”

China routinely uses the phrase “properly handle border-related differences” and had last used it in August last year when the Chinese Defence Ministry had reacted against the special forces of the US and India holding a joint combat exercise in the southern foothills of the Himalayas. As far back as in 2014, then Chinese envoy of India Wei Wei had said, “Sound foundation has been laid to properly handle border-related differences.”