Johannesburg:

India’s Foreign Secretary said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg and highlighted India’s concerns regarding border issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said, “Modi and Xi agreed to instruct their respective officials to expedite the withdrawal of troops and intensify efforts to reduce tensions.”

Relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbors have been poor for more than three years after a skirmish between troops from both sides along the Himalayan border in June 2020 resulted in 24 deaths.

Although the situation along the nearly 3,000 km (1,860 mi) border has calmed down, face-offs continue in some areas.

On the sidelines of the BRICS summit, Modi highlighted “India’s concerns on the unresolved issues at the LAC” with Xi, Kwatra said.

“Modi also underlined that maintaining peace and tranquility in the border areas and observing and respecting the LAC are essential for normalizing India-China relations,” the foreign secretary said.

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This is the first time that Modi has raised the issue directly with Xi, reiterating India’s position which has been shared with China several times through other ministers.

The Indian government recently said that the two leaders held talks on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia last year, but only exchanged courtesies and discussed the need to stabilize ties.

Discussions have taken place at several levels to find a solution to the border issues, but no solution has been found.

Just before the two leaders traveled to Johannesburg, military commanders held talks on the Himalayan border for five days in an attempt to find a solution. Although both sides said that the talks were positive, nothing was said about the withdrawal of troops on the ground.

Chinese Foreign and Defense Ministers visited India earlier this year for the G20 and Shanghai Cooperation Dialogue events and met their Indian counterparts.