Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Russia on Tuesday – their first meeting since the 2020 Galwan clash, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri has said. The meeting will focus on the improvement in India-China relations after agreeing on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control, which had faced many obstacles in the last few years.
Amid speculation of new ties, Mr Misri announced that bilateral talks were ongoing. “I can confirm that there will be a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping tomorrow on the sidelines of the BRICS summit,” news agency ANI quoted him as saying.
There has been only one formal meeting between the two leaders since the 2020 Galwan clash. It was held on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa in August 2023. A brief informal conversation also took place on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.
Both the leaders are currently in Kazan, Russia, where Russian President Vladimir Putin, Brazil’s Lula da Silva and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa are also attending the summit.
The breakthrough in the patrolling arrangement comes four years after the Galwan Valley clash and signals a move towards reducing tensions in the area where both countries have deployed thousands of troops. The arrangement, which would involve a return to the pre-2020 system, is also a step to stabilize the situation and serve as a confidence-building measure between New Delhi and Beijing.
Indian and Chinese troops clashed in the Galwan Valley on June 15, 2020, amid major tensions along the Line of Actual Control. Both sides suffered losses, causing tension in bilateral relations.
Although tensions were gradually eased, a return to the pre-Galwan situation proved elusive.
This had created tension in other areas besides bilateral relations.
There were no direct flights between the two countries for the last four years. Visas for Chinese technicians were granted after additional layers of security and investments from companies based in neighboring countries required additional checks and security clearances.
