International: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Russia's Kazan on Wednesday. The meeting was held after five years and was the first since India engaged in a deadly clash that led to the death of at least 20 Indian soldiers. The crucial meeting was arranged a few days after the two sides reached an agreement on patrolling along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh. During the meeting, PM Modi told the Chinese leaders that maintaining peace and stability at the border should remain on top priority.

Welcoming the recent agreement for complete disengagement and resolution of issues that arose in 2020 in the India-China border areas, Prime Minister Modi underscored the importance of properly handling differences and disputes and not allowing them to disturb peace and tranquillity. According to the statement released by the Ministry of Externa Affairs, the two leaders agreed that the Special Representatives on the India-China boundary question would meet at an early date to oversee the management of peace and tranquillity in border areas and to explore a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the boundary question. 

"The relevant dialogue mechanisms at the level of Foreign Ministers and other officials will also be utilized to stabilize and rebuild bilateral relations," PM Modi said during the much-awaited bilateral meeting. 

PM Modi calls to address developmental challenges

The two leaders affirmed that stable, predictable, and amicable bilateral relations between India and China, as two neighbours and the two largest nations on earth, will have a positive impact on regional and global peace and prosperity. "It will also contribute to a multi-polar Asia and a multi-polar world. The leaders underlined the need to progress bilateral relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, enhance strategic communication and explore cooperation to address developmental challenges," read the statement.

India-China relations

Although both had an opportunity for brief interaction at least twice-- first, on the sidelines of the G20 summit at Bali in Indonesia in November 2022 and then during the BRICS summit at Johannesburg in South Africa in August 2023, the leaders hadn't had any separate meetings. During the brief interactions, both agreed to step up efforts to resolve the military stand-off along the LAC. 

Relations between the world's two most populous nations - both nuclear powers - have been strained since a clash between their troops on the largely Undemarcated frontier in the western Himalayas of Ladakh left 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers dead in 2020. The neighbours increased their military presence along the icy frontier since, adding tens of thousands of troops and weapons over the last four years.