TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet on the sidelines of a G20 meeting this week, aiming to build on a thaw in ties after a military standoff on their disputed border last year, officials said.
The 3,500 km (2,200-mile) border between the nuclear-armed neighbours has been calm since Modi and Xi held several hours of talks in the Chinese city of Wuhan in April, agreeing to prevent political disputes escalating into confrontation.
Later this year, their two armies will hold joint exercises in a bid to build trust after their 73-day face-off in a remote, high-altitude stretch of the Himalayan border that stoked fears of war. Modi’s meeting with Xi at the G20 summit in Argentina will be their fourth this year, Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said.
“It was decided that they would take the opportunity whenever and wherever they could meet. They could discuss issues on either leader’s mind or issues of mutual concern,” Gokhale told reporters.
