Sheela Bhatt who traveled with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the BRICS summit in Durban, reports on what transpired during Dr Singh's first meeting with China's new leader Xi Jinping.
A senior government source explains to Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt why India cannot pre-judge a rivalry with China.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed to Chinese President Xi Jinping India's concerns on the "unresolved" issues along Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh during a conversation on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said on Thursday.
Chinese ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, on Wednesday expressed hope that the recently completed Indo-China border disengagement in Eastern Ladakh would smoothen relations and pave the way for a better understanding between the two neighbours in the days ahead.
Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi Monday said there is still a 'degree' of standoff between the Indian and Chinese militaries along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh and both sides need to sit down and firm up a broader understanding on how to calm down the situation.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval held a meeting with top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi during which he emphasised the need for continuing efforts to restore peace and tranquillity in the border areas to remove the 'impediments' to normalcy in bilateral relations.
Disengagement of Indian and Chinese troops has started at two friction points in Demchok and Depsang Plains in the Eastern Ladakh sector, defence officials said.
The BRICS summit made clear that China's support for Pakistan is unwavering. China will continue to pressure India to ease tensions with Pakistan and resolve the Kashmir dispute.
'Happily,' says Ambassador B S Prakash, 'BRICS displayed new-found energy and built something real, a bank. Between needless nihilism and as yet unjustified euphoria, there are many stations for the BRICS train and we can watch its progress with renewed interest.'
The BRICS Summit tonight decided to establish the new development bank with an initial authorised capital of $100 billion.
India has not yet received any confirmation on Chinese President Xi Jinping's in-person participation at the upcoming G20 summit, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday amid reports that he is likely skip the conclave.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday left for Kazakhstan, completing his three-day stay in Sanya during which he attended the BRICS Summit and held bilateral talks with the presidents of China, Brazil, Russia and South Africa.
Kv Kamath has big plans as BRICS Bank chief.
The territory of Afghanistan must not be used to carry out terror attacks against other countries, the five-nation influential grouping BRICS said on Thursday and strongly called for combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including the cross-border movement of terrorists.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to travel to India next year as part of the established framework for reciprocal annual engagements between the leaders of the two nations, the Kremlin has said.
Following the disengagement, both sides will soon start the coordinated patrolling in their respective areas, sources added.
Modi emphasised that it was necessary to work together for sustained global economic recovery.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said the breakthrough agreement with China on patrolling along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) does not mean that issues between the two countries have been resolved, however, the disengagement allows us to look at the next step.
He said that the two nations will have issues in the foreseeable future. However, there are ways of addressing those issues and what happened in 2020 was not the way to address those issues.
India will look at disengagement and de-escalation of the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh after restoration of the status quo of April 2020, Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi said on Tuesday, a day after New Delhi announced striking an agreement with Beijing to end the over four-year border row in the region.
While Narendra Modi spent fewer days abroad than his predecessor -- 275 days versus Dr Singh's 306 - he has travelled more widely than any other Indian PM.
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had extended an invitation to United States President Donald Trump, but he had expressed his inability citing "scheduling conflicts".
India's dream to be in the forefront of international politics has come true. India has placed itself firmly as a major player in the shaping of a new world order, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
India is working with the US on an "early" visit to Washington by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to further deepen the comprehensive global strategic partnership between the two countries, the External Affairs Ministry said on Friday. Following a phone conversation with Modi this week, US President Donald Trump said the Indian prime minister "is going to be coming to the White House, over next month, probably February". It would be Modi's first bilateral visit to Washington after Trump became US president for a second term. While confirming discussions between India and the US on the proposed visit, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal did not mention any possible time-line for the trip. In their phone conversation on January 27, Modi and Trump vowed to work towards a "trusted" partnership with a focus on boosting India-US cooperation in areas of trade, energy and defence. "PM Modi and President Trump had a telephone conversation recently. The two sides are working on an early visit of the PM to the US to further deepen India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership," Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing while replying to a question. "Specific dates for the visit would be announced at the appropriate time," he said. It is learnt that both sides were initially looking at the window between February 12-14 for Modi's visit but there has been no finality on it yet. The prime minister is set to travel to Paris to attend the Artificial Intelligence Action summit on February 10 and 11. Though the US president has also been invited to the summit, his participation is not yet confirmed.
'We will likely never know why Xi decided not to travel to New Delhi. One possible explanation could be his desire to avoid a meeting with US President Joe Biden.'
'ISRO Chairman Dr. Somanath's leadership truly created history and we extend our hearty congratulations to him and his team,' Venugopal said on X, formerly Twitter.
The talks are following up the outcome of the 19th round of Corps Commander-level talks held between the two sides on August 13-14 at the Chushul Moldo border meeting point.
India is now on the Moon and the success of the lunar mission has sounded the bugle for the emergence of a developed nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday as Chandrayaan-3 landed successfully on the lunar surface.
'Given China's past behaviour and their territorial claims, should we be sceptical regarding China's willingness to adhere to these agreements fully? The answer is yes.' 'As Ronald Reagan famously said in the context of the SALT talks, 'Trust, but verify!' India should also do the same.' 'This has already begun with foot patrolling, drones, satellite imagery and so on. India's military deployment did mirror China's and will continue to do so in the future.'
Russian President Vladimir Putin and President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff on Friday called Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi to congratulate him on his landslide win in the Lok Sabha polls and said they were looking forward to meet him in the BRICS summit in July.
Russia proceeds "from the postulate, a negotiated solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has no alternatives," said Putin while speaking at the Commonwealth of Independent States summit in Bishkek, Kyrgystan on Friday.
'To consider BRICS anything more than a temporary club with some common interests would be folly. The goal should be to induce others (Japan, ASEAN, South Africa) to align with us -- a non-threatening, democratic nation, rather than with malevolent China or waning America. For us to consider aligning with either China or the US would be absurd. India is just too big to be a sidekick,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
During the meeting on the sidelines of the 11th BRICS Summit on Wednesday, prime minister Modi said there was a "new direction and new energy" in bilateral ties after the two leaders' second informal summit in Chennai.
The PM said there was a need to tackle the problem of terrorism in an organised manner.
India looks forward to the meet between Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Chinese premier Xi Jinping's in Durban on March 27 on the sidelines of the BRICS summit. The next week is important for Sino- India bilateral relations, says Sheela Bhatt.
Modi was expected to arrive in Wuhan in the evening on April 26 and join Xi in the informal summit at a picturesque location the next day.
The board meeting is likely to take place later in Shanghai.
India on Monday pressed for early disengagement of troops in remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh during a fresh round of high-level military talks with China, people familiar with the matter said.
As India's stock rises, the resolution of the border row may become even more difficult, warn Harsh V Pant and Kalpit Mankikar.
Modi also urged the BRICS Business Council to create a roadmap to achieve the $500 billion intra-BRICS trade target by the next summit.
