PM Modi, Prez Xi Join Hands To Stabilise Indo-China Relations

With an aim to restore peace and tranquility along the LAC (Line of Actual Control) on the eastern sector of the India-China boundary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping exchanged courtesies at the dinner hosted by Indonesian President.

PM Modi and President Xi discussed the need to stabilise bilateral ties at a brief encounter on the margins of last year's G20 Summit in Indonesia.

"During the Bali G20 Summit last year, Prime Minister and President Xi Jinping, at the conclusion of the dinner hosted by the Indonesian president, exchanged courtesies and spoke of the need to stabilise our bilateral relations," Spokesperson from the External Affairs Ministry Arindam Bagchi said in response to questions at a regular media briefing.

Bagchi also acknowledged that foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra, during a media briefing held in Bali, Indonesia, at the conclusion of last year's G20 Summit, had spoken only about exchanging courtesies.

"With regard to the question relating to the handshake between the prime minister and President Xi Jinping, I will only say that Prime Minister Modi and President Xi Jinping, who were both attending the G20 dinner...hosted by the Indonesian President, exchanged courtesies at the conclusion of the dinner," Kwatra had said at the briefing in Bali.

The border row and a brutal clash at Galwan Valley in June 2020, which resulted in the death of 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese troops, have turned the India-China relations into a bitter state. The two sides are yet to resolve several friction points in the Ladakh sector despite more than two dozen rounds of diplomatic and military talks.