Modi, Xi hold first talks since Ladakh standoff

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held bilateral talks on Wednesday on the margins of the Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) Summit in Russia, in their first structured meeting in the last five years.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit, in Kazan on Wednesday. Photograph: ANI Photo

The meeting took place two days after India and China firmed up an agreement on patrolling by their militaries along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, in a major breakthrough to end the over four-year standoff.

In November 2022, Modi and Xi exchanged pleasantries and held a brief conversation at a dinner hosted by the Indonesian President for the G20 leaders.

In August last year too, the Indian prime minister and the Chinese president held a brief and informal conversation in Johannesburg on the sidelines of the BRICS summit.

The two leaders last held a structured meeting during their second informal summit in Mamallapuram in October 2019.

The eastern Ladakh border row erupted in May 2020.