PM Modi and President Xi to meet at the BRICS Summit in 2023?

PM Modi and President Xi to meet at the BRICS Summit in 2023?:-All eyes are on whether Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping in an effort to end the three-year standoff at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) as he arrives in South Africa on Tuesday for the XVth BRICS summit in Johannesburg.

According to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, India’s current global engagements are aimed at “bringing India to the world and the world to India.”

Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said on Monday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) summit in Johannesburg are being finalized. He did not, however, respond directly to the possibility of a meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

When asked if PM Modi and President Xi will meet on the sidelines of the summit, Mr Kwatra stated that the Prime Minister’s bilateral meeting schedule is being finalized.

If the bilateral meeting takes place, it will be their first since the border standoff between India and China began in May 2020.

PM Modi and President Xi met briefly at a dinner last November during the G20 summit in Bali. China has already announced that Xi Jinping will attend the summit in South Africa.

Meanwhile, talks between the local Indian Army and Chinese PLA commanders for confidence-building measures in eastern Ladakh’s Depsang and Demchok continued.

Even though the two sides completed disengagement at several locations following extensive diplomatic and military talks, Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a three-year conflict in certain friction points in eastern Ladakh.

On August 13 and 14, India and China held the 19th round of Corps Commander-level talks, with the goal of resolving outstanding issues at the Depsang and Demchok standoff areas.

The talks were described as “positive, constructive, and in-depth” in a joint statement, and the two sides agreed to resolve the remaining issues as soon as possible.

Days after a new round of high-level talks, the two militaries’ local commanders held a series of talks in two separate locations to resolve issues in Depsang Plains and Demchok.

The Major General-level talks, which began on Friday, focused primarily on confidence-building measures. There has been no official word on the negotiations.

The 19th round of Corps Commander-level talks took place at the Chushul-Moldo border crossing on the Indian side of the region’s Line of Actual Control (LAC).

On the sidelines of the BRICS meeting in Johannesburg on July 24, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met with top Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

According to the Ministry of External Affairs, Mr. Doval stated that the situation along the LAC since 2020 has “eroded strategic trust” as well as the public and political foundation of the relationship.

According to the ministry, the NSA emphasized the importance of continuing efforts to fully resolve the situation and restore peace and tranquility in border areas in order to remove impediments to normalcy in bilateral ties.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also met with his Chinese counterpart last month on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Jakarta.

India has maintained that its relations with China cannot be normalized unless the border areas are peaceful.

Following a violent clash in the Pangong Lake area, the eastern Ladakh border standoff erupted on May 5, 2020.

Following a fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020, which marked the most serious military conflict between the two countries in decades, relations between the two countries deteriorated.

According to people familiar with the situation, the local commanders met over the next few days as well as on Monday to strengthen confidence-building measures.

AS THE OPPOSITION tries to keep the issue of China’s “presence” in Ladakh alive, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has an opportunity to score a point as he departs for the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Tuesday morning.

It will be the first in-person meeting of the BRICS nations, which include Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, since 2019. And, as Shubhajit Roy reported, there is a chance that Modi and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping will meet on the sidelines of the Summit.

The Chinese Ambassador to South Africa hinted at such a meeting, according to Shubhajit, noting that a Modi-Xi meeting would be their first scheduled interaction since the border standoff began in May 2020.

Prime Minister Modi will arrive in South Africa on Tuesday for a three-day visit to attend the BRICS’ first in-person summit since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Modi will travel to Greece from Johannesburg, making him the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the country since Indira Gandhi in 1983.