Bali: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping shook hands at an event of the G20 summit here on Tuesday. This meeting of the two leaders caught the attention of many people amid strained relations between the two countries over the border standoff. In fact, Indonesian President Joko Widodo gave a welcome dinner for the G20 delegates. The program was telecast live for the media, in which the two leaders were seen shaking hands.
There was speculation about a possible bilateral meeting of the two leaders on the sidelines of the G20 summit, but no such meeting is mentioned in the agenda shared by the two sides. Questions were raised on the possibility of a bilateral meeting between the two amid the ongoing tussle over border incursions by China in eastern Ladakh.
Prime Minister Modi and President Xi came face-to-face at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) annual summit in Samarkand in September for the first time since the start of the border standoff in eastern Ladakh. But at that time there was no report of the two leaders shaking hands or greeting. So in such a situation, this is the first time after the skirmish between the Indian and Chinese forces in the Galvan Valley of Ladakh in the year 2020 that the two top leaders have shaken hands with each other.
India has consistently maintained that peace and tranquility along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are vital for the overall development of bilateral relations. Indian and Chinese armies have held several corps commander-level talks to resolve the long-standing standoff on the border. The eastern Ladakh border standoff began on May 5, 2020, after violent clashes in the Pangong Lake areas.
