Brics Summit: Bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China's Xi Jinping today, days after LAC border truce

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold bilateral talks today on the sidelines of the ongoing 16th Brics Summit in the Russian city of Kazan.

This will be the first formal meeting between the two leaders in five years and also comes just two days after India announced it had reached a truce with China to resume patrols in disputed areas along the border line. Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, ending a four-year military standoff.

The bilateral meeting will take place around 4:10-5:10 p.m. (IST).

Prime Minister Modi and Xi Jinping met on Tuesday evening at an official dinner hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin for all Brics leaders and summit participants.

Addressing a press conference in Kazan, Foreign Minister Vikram Misri confirmed that the meeting between the prime minister and the Chinese president would take place on Wednesday on the sidelines of the two-day summit.

However, he did not specify the timing of the meeting.

The foreign minister was also asked about the India-China agreement to resume patrols in remaining friction points along the LAC, where tensions persist since the 2020 Galwan Valley standoff.

In response, Misri said the immediate focus would be on disengagement and the issue of de-escalation and withdrawal of troops would then be taken up in due course.

“This will imply that in the areas under discussion, patrolling and grazing activities, where applicable, will return to the situation as it existed in 2020,” he said.

This diplomatic breakthrough came five years after the border standoff led to a significant deterioration in the situation. bilateral relations between India and China. New Delhi accused Beijing of occupying around 1,000 km² of Indian territory in Ladakh since May 2020.

Hours before the foreign minister announced the meeting, the Chinese government also confirmed the border truce, saying a resolution had been reached on “relevant issues” and that it would work with New Delhi to bring implement these resolutions.

The last formal meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Xi Jinping took place in 2019 in Mahabalipuram.

In August 2023, the two leaders had a brief and informal conversation in Johannesburg on the sidelines of the 15th Brics Summit.

The prime minister and the president exchanged pleasantries and had a brief conversation during a dinner hosted by the Indonesian president for G20 leaders in November 2022.

PM MODI’S MEETINGS WITH PUTIN, THE IRANIAN PRESIDENT

After arriving in Kazan on Tuesday, Prime Minister Modi held bilateral talks with Russian and Iranian Presidents Vladimir Putin and Masoud Pezeshkian respectively.

During his meeting with Putin, the Prime Minister assured India's cooperation for a peaceful resolution of the Russo-Ukrainian war. He also recalled his two visits to Russia over the past three months, saying they “reflect our close coordination and deep friendship.”

For his part, the Russian president said that Indo-Russian relations were “particularly privileged” and “developing dynamically”. The meeting was also marked by a moment of levity when Putin said he believed Prime Minister Modi would understand his remarks without translation as the two countries shared a “close” relationship.

The prime minister's meeting with the Iranian leader was the first since Pezeshkian took office in July, following his early election victory and the death of his predecessor Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash earlier this year.

Their discussions focused on ways to strengthen cooperation in key areas, including the Chabahar port and the North-South international transport corridor.

“We had a very good meeting with Iranian President Mr. Masoud Pezeshkian. We reviewed the overall relations between our countries. We also discussed ways to deepen ties in futuristic sectors,” tweeted the Prime Minister Modi after the meeting.

Pezeshkian acknowledged India's role in Iran's membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the BRICS and also highlighted the role New Delhi could play in de-escalating the ongoing conflict in the Middle East .

The Iranian leader also accepted Prime Minister Modi's invitation to visit India soon.