Modi-Xi Wuhan summit: India, China look to reset ties with new understanding

New Delhi: India and China seem to have reached a broad strategic understanding on how to take forward ties, rocked by an unprecedented 73-day-long tense military standoff along their common borders last year, at the end of a rare informal summit between the top leaders of the two countries. “Prime Minister Modi and President Xi underlined that as two major countries India and China have wider and overlapping regional and global interests,” it said. They also agreed that the “development of a sound bilateral relationship which have about 40% of the world population will also be conducive for development in the region,” he said.fourthMAds There was agreement on the need for “building an open, multipolar pluralist participatory global economic order,” the foreign secretary said, adding that the two leaders also concurred on “the need to reform multilateral, financial and political institutions to make them more responsive to developing countries.” Xi and Modi “endorsed” the work done by the special representatives of India and China on trying to find a “fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement” to the boundary dispute, Gokhale said. Pending the settlement, Modi and Xi agreed that “it is important to maintain peace and tranquillity in all areas of the India China border region, and to this end, the two leaders decided that they would issue strategic guidance to their respective militaries to strengthen communication to build trust and understanding, to implement various confidence building measures which have already been agreed upon by the two sides, and to strengthen existing institutional mechanisms to prevent and manage situations in the border areas,” Gokhale said. Besides bilateral issues, Modi and Xi also agreed to “strengthen strategic communication between two countries through greater consultation on regional and international issues,” Gokhale said, adding that the two leaders felt “this sort of a discussion would have a positive influence on enhancing mutual understanding,” besides contributing to regional and global stability.sixthMAds