China has honored an army regiment commander who was injured in the Galwan Valley border clash with Indian soldiers in 2020 as an outstanding member of the national advisory body - Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Qi Fabao, who was made the torchbearer for the Winter Olympics in 2022, was among the 33 individuals honored with the 2024 Outstanding Performance Award for CPPCC Members. The incident, which resulted in the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers, led to a freeze in relations between the two countries for over four years. Ties were restored after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping in October 2023.
Two-time Asian champion boxer Pooja Rani is contemplating a move down to the 70kg weight class as she targets a comeback for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
Putin said that the Indian leader had "aptly" noted that it is "not an anti-western one but a non-western one".
China's military has said it is willing to work with India to find a solution to the border issue, while also pushing for sound and stable defence ties. The statement comes after recent meetings between officials from both countries to normalize relations following a prolonged period of tension.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emphasized dialogue over discord in India's relationship with China, acknowledging natural differences between the two countries but stressing that stronger cooperation is essential for their mutual interests and global stability. In a podcast with Lex Fridman, Modi highlighted the ongoing efforts to restore normalcy along the border following the 2020 clashes, emphasizing the importance of a stable and cooperative relationship.
Asserting that it is for the first time that BRICS has taken a collective position on strengthening and reforming multilateral systems, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "We have to ensure that BRICS is more productive in the next 15 years".
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday pledged to strengthen the strategic relationships with neighbouring countries by 'appropriately' managing differences and enhancing supply chain ties as China's tariff war with the United States escalated.
'Don't play the American game... India is too big for a US game.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold bilateral talks on Wednesday on the margins of the Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) summit in Russia, in their first structured meeting since the eastern Ladakh border row erupted in May 2020.
According to informed sources, Doval will arrive in Beijing on Tuesday to attend the crucial talks, which were expected to provide a way forward for the two countries to normalise the relations.
The meeting will be attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro, according to the MEA.
Prime Minister Narendra D Modi jettisoned his usual black bandh gala for an elegant deep blue woolen coat for the dinner Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted for leaders attending the BRICS Summit in Kazan on Tuesday, October 22, 2024, evening.
India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has stated that the US administration under President Donald Trump is moving towards multipolarity, which aligns with India's interests. He also revealed that India and the US have reached an agreement on the need for a bilateral trade pact. Jaishankar touched upon various foreign policy issues including India's role in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the trajectory of the BRICS grouping, and relations with China during a session at the Chatham House think-tank in London.
"From President Trump's perspective, the one big shared enterprise that we have is the Quad, which is an understanding where everybody pays their fair share. There are no free riders involved. So that's a good model which works," he said. The Quad alliance consists of the US, India, Australia and Japan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday conveyed to Russian President Vladimir Putin that India stands ready to provide all possible cooperation towards ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict and that dialogue and diplomacy is the only way to bring peace to the region.
P K Mishra, a retired IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre, is currently serving as the principal secretary to the prime minister.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday that India-China relations have made positive strides and achieved a series of encouraging outcomes at all levels after last year's breakthrough ending the over four-year-long military standoff in eastern Ladakh. Wang's remarks came during his annual press conference as he replied to a question on how Beijing views the course of bilateral ties after the two countries ended the prolonged stalemate in the ties.
Though he does not know what New Delhi is intending to do, Berlin would "welcome any engagement", he added.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the 13th BRICS summit to be held on Thursday at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, China's foreign ministry announced in Beijing on Wednesday.
The Indian side is in "very close touch" with interlocutors in the foreign and defence ministries of Russia on the issue of Indians "who were, illegally or otherwise, contracted into fighting in the Russian Army", Misri said at a media briefing on Modi's visit to Russia for the BRICS Summit.
'If gold's recent surge has increased its allocation beyond 15 per cent in your portfolio, now may be a good time to rebalance.'
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.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called on India to implement the consensus reached by Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping at their summit in Russia, urging a restart of bilateral ties. Wang emphasized the importance of respecting each other's core interests, enhancing mutual trust, handling differences effectively, and bringing the relationship back on track. He suggested practical steps such as resuming flights, easing visa procedures, and planning commemorative activities for the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations. Wang also highlighted the shared interests and opportunities for cooperation between the two countries, advocating for mutual development and strengthening coordination in international affairs.
He said that in recent times, based on the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, China and India have maintained close communication on the border situation through diplomatic and military channels and achieved great progress.
Jaishankar said that both sides also exchanged views on the next steps in the India-China bilateral ties.
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.
The US involvement in Ukraine and the Middle East is a distraction which has to end quickly so that the main business of China can be focussed on. China is America's only peer competitor, not Russia and not anybody else. Therefore it makes little sense to be diverted from the overall mission, explains Aakar Patel.
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.
Earlier, Trump has already talked about slapping "100 per cent tariffs" on the BRICS grouping, a bloc that includes India as well.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United States President Donald Trump on Monday vowed to work towards a 'trusted' partnership with a focus on boosting India-US cooperation in areas of trade, energy and defence in their first phone conversation since the American leader's inauguration last week.
India has lodged a "solemn protest" with China over the establishment of two new counties in the Hotan prefecture, as parts of these regions fall within India's union territory of Ladakh. The Indian government asserted that the creation of these counties will not impact its sovereignty over the area and does not lend legitimacy to China's "illegal and forcible" occupation.
The US move to align with Russia is prompted by fear of a Sino-Russian joint threat. Russia, fully aware of its military vulnerability vis a vis China may cautiously welcome the American move, assesses Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval is likely to travel to Beijing within the next few weeks to lead the Indian delegation at a new edition of the Special Representatives dialogue on the larger boundary question that will be held after a gap of nearly five years, authoritative sources said.
India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri has arrived in Beijing for a two-day visit during which he will hold talks with Chinese officials. The visit comes amid ongoing efforts to de-escalate tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh and to resume bilateral cooperation in various fields, including the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.
India and China held talks in New Delhi to discuss the lessons learned from the eastern Ladakh military standoff and prevent its recurrence. The two sides also prepared for the next meeting of the Special Representatives on the boundary question. The talks took place under the framework of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC). Both sides highlighted the importance of regular exchanges and contacts at diplomatic and military level to maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for trying to help find a peaceful solution to the Ukraine crisis.
In the talks, Putin hoped that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Russia's Kazan next month to attend the annual BRICS summit.
In his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the 16th BRICS Summit in the Russian city of Kazan, Xi said that China-India relations are essentially a question of how the two large developing countries and neighbours, each with a 1.4-billion-strong population, treat each other, it added.
In the talks, China emphasised that the two sides should proceed from the fundamental interests of China, India and adhere to the strategic height and long-term perspective of China-India relations, the readout said.
"The Modi government's approach to the entire crisis could be described as DDLJ: Deny, Distract, Lie and Justify," Ramesh said.