Modi, Xi emphasize partnership over rivalry in push to reset China-India relations
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said New Delhi was committed to improving ties with Beijing in a key meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping on Sunday, as both countries resolved to put aside differences from a years-long border standoff.
Modi is in China for the first time in seven years to attend a two-day meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, along with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders from Central, South and Southeast Asia and the Middle East in a show of Global South solidarity.
“We are committed to progressing our relations based on mutual respect, trust and sensitivities,” Modi told Xi during the meeting on the sidelines of the summit, according to a video clip posted on the Indian leader’s official X account.
Modi said an atmosphere of “peace and stability” has been created on their disputed Himalayan border, the site of a prolonged military standoff after deadly troop clashes in 2020, which froze most areas of cooperation between the nuclear-armed strategic rivals.
He added that an agreement had been reached between both nations regarding border management, without giving details.
“We must … not let the border issue define the overall China-India relationship,” Chinese state media outlet Xinhua reported Xi as saying.
China-India ties could be “stable and far-reaching” if both sides focused on viewing each other as partners instead of rivals, Xi added.
Direct flights between both nations, which have been suspended since 2020, are “being resumed”, Modi added, without providing a timeframe.
China had also agreed to lift export curbs on rare earths, fertilisers and tunnel boring machines this month during a key visit to India by China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
This comes after both leaders had a breakthrough meeting in Russia last year after reaching a border patrol agreement, setting off a tentative thaw in ties that has accelerated in recent weeks.
