Modi, Xi vow to build trust

Xiamen: In an hour-long meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday, the first since the uneasy resolution of the Doklam standoff, both sides agreed to put the Doklam standoff behind and strengthen cooperation between defence personnel to avoid a repeat of the border row.

The two leaders said more needed to be done to avoid boundary disputes and peace in border areas was vital to a positive relationship, foreign secretary S Jaishankar told media after the meeting between Modi and Xi.

“One of the important points made during the meeting was that peace and tranquillity on the border areas was a prerequisite for the further development of our relationship,” Jaishankar said.

The leaders also emphasised on enhancing and strengthening mutual trust, India’s top diplomat said of the meeting that came a week after the two countries ended a 73-day tense standoff in Doklam close to India’s northeaster frontier.
Jaishankar didn’t specifically mention Doklam but gave enough hints that much of the conversation was in the backdrop of the military impasse that was resolved a few days before Modi’s visit to Xiamen for Brics summit that concluded
Monday.

“It is natural that between neighbours and large powers there would be areas of difference. But where there is an area of difference, it should be handled with mutual respect and efforts should be made to find common ground,” he said.

The two sides agreed that Chinese and Indian defence and security personnel must maintain strong contacts and cooperation and ensure “that the sort of situations which happened recently does not re-occur”, Jaishankar said.

The row in Doklam, a Himalayan plateau claimed by both China and Bhutan, was sparked when the Chinese tried to build a road. India sent soldiers to stop China from working on the road that would have closed in on the Silliguri corridor, a narrow stretch that connects mainland India to the northeast.

Jaishankar didn’t mention the steps that would be taken to prevent another Doklam, which occurred despite a mechanism being in place to tackle incidents along the 3,800-km mountainous frontier, large parts of which are disputed.

The conversation between the two leaders was “forward looking”. “Both of us know what happened. This (the conversation) was not a backward-looking conversation, this was a forward-looking conversation,” Jaishankar said. The discussion was about ways to take the relationship forward, ensure peace in border areas and build mutual trust, he said.