Modi and Xi Discuss Himalayan Border, Direct Guangzhou-New Delhi Flights to Resume September 21
GeopoliticsMacro
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping jointly announced on Saturday, September 12, that both sides are ready to mend rifts and work toward resolving disputes along the Himalayan border in order to restore stable bilateral ties. India's Ministry of External Affairs said the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to finding a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement on the boundary question, while China's Foreign Ministry said Xi Jinping called on both countries to accelerate progress on the issue in a mutually reinforcing manner. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the BRICS leaders' summit in New Delhi, with relations between the two countries having been severely strained by a border clash in 2020 that left soldiers on both sides injured and killed. The two leaders agreed that India and China should be cooperative friends rather than rivals, and should step up economic and trade cooperation by jointly addressing each side's concerns, including structural trade imbalances, to strengthen people-to-people ties. Xi Jinping stressed the importance of opening direct flights, with the direct route between Guangzhou and New Delhi scheduled to resume service on September 21 after a six-year suspension dating back to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. China will host next year's BRICS leaders' summit, whose current members are Brazil, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.
