Meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, Chinese President Xi Jinping said relations had maintained a steady, healthy momentum, and should continue to increase mutual understanding and trust.President Xi told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday that the two countries should respect each other’s concerns and constructively handle their differences.
“We ought to respect and give consideration to each other’s concerns, and use constructive methods to appropriately handle questions on which there are disputes,” Xi said, in comments carried by China’s Foreign Ministry.
“China is willing to work hard with India the maintain the hard-won good position of Sino-India relations,” Xi added.
Leaders of Asia’s two giants pledged last year to cool a festering border dispute, which dates back to a brief border war in 1962, though the disagreement remains unresolved.
The two nuclear-armed neighbours have been moving to gradually ease long-existing tensions between them.
China’s Defence Ministry said last month that it hoped India could put more efforts into regional peace and stability rather than the opposite, in response to Indian plans to put advanced cruise missiles along the disputed border with China.
Indian military officials say the plan is to equip regiments deployed on the China border with the BrahMos missile, made by an Indo-Russian joint venture, as part of ongoing efforts to build up military and civilian infrastructure capabilities there.
China lays claim to more than 90,000 sq km (35,000 sq miles) ruled by New Delhi in the eastern sector of the Himalayas. India says China occupies 38,000 sq km (14,600 sq miles) of its territory on the Aksai Chin plateau in the west ,whereas India is also suspicious of China’s support for its arch-rival, Pakistan.
