Wuhan (China): Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will provide “strategic guidance” to their armies to prevent another Doklam-like military stand-off along their long-winding disputed border.
During the two-day informal summit between Modi and Xi in the central Chinese city of Wuhan that ended on Saturday, India and China also decided to work on a joint economic project in Afghanistan, a move that could upset Beijing’s “all-weather ally” and New Delhi’s arch-rival Pakistan, which borders Afghanistan.
In several meetings, terrorism, climate change and other international issues figured on which both leaders had similar views.
“Prime Minister Modi and President Xi reviewed developments in India-China relations from the strategic and long-term perspective,” said India’s Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale at a media briefing here.
“They also agreed that both sides have the maturity and wisdom to handle the differences through peaceful discussion within the context of the overall relationship, bearing in mind the importance of respecting each other’s sensitivities, concerns and aspirations.”
Gokhale said Modi and Xi were of the view that Special Representatives on border talks from both countries will have to intensify their efforts to seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement.
He said both leaders underscored the importance of maintaining peace and tranquility in all areas of the India-China border region in the larger interest of the overall development of bilateral relations.
“To this end, they issued strategic guidance to their respective militaries to strengthen communication in order to build trust and mutual understanding and enhance predictability and effectiveness in the management of border affairs,” the Indian Foreign Secretary said.
“The two leaders further directed their militaries to earnestly implement various confidence-building measures agreed upon between the two sides, including the principle of mutual and equal security, and strengthen existing institutional arrangements and information sharing mechanisms to prevent incidents in border regions.”