New Delhi: Sources in the national capital on Friday have dismissed the recent claim made by China saying the China-India talks on the sidelines of the 15th BRICS Summit happened at the latter’s request.
A statement released by the Chinese foreign ministry stated, “President Xi Jinping talked with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit at the latter’s request on August 23, 2023”.
Meanwhile, sources in New Delhi have said that “there was a pending request from the Chinese side for a bilateral meeting”.
Also read: President Xi meets PM Modi, stresses on improving India-China relations: Chinese Foreign Ministry
The sources also confirmed that "the two leaders, however, had an informal conversation in the Leaders Lounge during the BRICS Summit”. The Chinese Foreign Ministry statement also said that the two leaders had a candid and in-depth exchange of views on current China-India relations and other questions of shared interest and President Xi stressed that improving China-India relations serves the common interests of the two countries and peoples, and is also conducive to peace, stability and development of the world and the region.
On Thursday, giving details of the conversation between Modi and Xi, foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra said, "Prime Minister in his conversation with the Chinese President Xi Jinping, highlighted India's concerns on the unresolved issues along the LAC in the Western sector of the India-China border areas".
He noted that the Prime Minister underlined that the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas and observing and respecting the LAC are essential for the normalization of the India-China relationship. In this regard, both leaders agreed to direct their relevant officials to intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and de-escalation, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra added.
This is the first such face-to-face meeting between the two leaders since the May 2020 Galwan Valley border clash. Ever since the clash broke out at LAC, there have been several high-level meetings at the Defence and Foreign ministers level to resolve the issue but Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Chinese Premier Xi Jinping never spoke over a call or sat down for talks.
The relations between New Delhi and Beijing have been at an all-time low since the border standoff for which talks have been going on. India and China held the 19th round of Corps commander-level talks earlier this month at Chushul-Moldo on the Indian side.
