BRICS Summit 2017: PM Modi and Xi Jinping held bilateral talks in China's Xiamen. (PTI)
Highlights
- Mr Xi told PM Modi that India and China are each other's major neighbours
- Bilateral talks between PM Modi and Mr Xi lasted for over an hour
- India said talks were constructive and forward-looking
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China's President Xi Jinping agreed that more needed to be done to avoid future border disputes, the government said today as the two leaders held their first bilateral talks since the protracted standoff at Doklam ended last week. "One of the most important points made during the meeting was that peace and tranquility in the border areas was a prerequisite for the further development of ties," said Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar after talks that lasted more than an hour in China's port city of Xiamen, on the sidelines of a BRICS summit. "We held fruitful talks on bilateral relations," PM Modi tweeted before leaving for Myanmar.
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China's Xi called for putting ties with India on the "right track" and said the two countries should pursue "healthy, stable bilateral ties", reported the Chinese state media.
The two leaders reaffirmed their understanding in June at Kazakhstan's Astana "to not allow differences to become disputes," Mr Jaishankar told reporters. They also agreed that it is in the interest of both India and China to have good relations.
"The discussions were very constructive on where the relationship should be going and will be going," Mr Jaishankar said, describing the meeting as "forward-looking". He said both sides decided to have closer communication between the defence and security personnel, so that there is no repeat of incidents in the recent past, an apparent reference to the Doklam standoff.
Mr Xi reportedly told PM Modi that China was prepared to work with India to seek guidance from the five principles of the Panchsheel Treaty signed between India and China in 1954.
PM Modi and President Xi had met informally at the G20 summit in Germany in July, but their last bilateral talks were in June, when they met in Astana during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meet.
That meeting took place amid growing differences between the two nations over a range of issues including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and China's opposition to India's efforts to enter the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
Later that month, Indian soldiers stopped China from building a road in the remote, uninhabited territory of Doklam, claimed by both China and Bhutan, resulting in a stand-off near the Sikkim border that lasted over two months.
Last Monday, the government announced that New Delhi and Beijing had decided on "expeditious disengagement" of their border troops in the Doklam area.
India scored a significant point on Monday as the BRICS nations, for the first time, named Pakistan-based groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Haqqani network in a strongly-worded declaration condemning terror.
After the BRICS Summit, PM Modi is travelling to Myanmar on a bilateral visit. The trip includes a visit to the historic city of Bagan and Yangon. He will also interact with the Indian community in the country.
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