Chinese President Xi Jinping sought Tuesday to move past a tense border dispute with India, telling Prime Minister Narendra Modi the two nuclear-armed neighbours should pursue "healthy, stable" relations, according to China's state media.
The
exchange occurred on the sidelines of the just-ended summit of BRICS
emerging economies hosted by Xi in the southeastern Chinese city of
Xiamen.
Xi told Modi that "healthy,
stable bilateral ties" were "in line with the fundamental interests" of
the neighbours, the official Xinhua news agency said.
"China
is willing to work with India on the basis of the Five Principles of
Peaceful Coexistence which were put forward by both countries to improve
political mutual trust, promote mutually beneficial cooperation, and
push Sino-Indian ties along a right track," the report quoted him as
saying.
An Indian foreign ministry spokesman also tweeted that the two leaders had a "constructive and forward-looking" talk.
Map locating the Doklam plateau in the Himalayas, at the centre of a dispute between China and India(AFP)
Armed
forces of the two countries engaged in a bitter, weeks-long military
confrontation in a disputed and strategically important Himalayan area.
The contested area, Doklam, is claimed by both China and Bhutan, an ally of India.
The stand-off began on June 16 when Chinese troops started building a road in the area.
India
deployed troops to stop the construction project, prompting Beijing to
accuse it of trespassing on Chinese soil and sparking one of the worst
crises in decades between the two countries, which have a history of
mistrust.
The confrontation dragged on as
China repeatedly demanded India withdraw its troops before any proper
negotiation could take place, while India countered that both sides
should withdraw their forces together.
They
backed off only last week, possibly to prevent the dispute from marring
the summit of the five-nation BRICS, which also includes Brazil, Russia
and South Africa.
The
two nuclear powers engaged in a bitter, weeks-long military
confrontation in a disputed and strategically important area in the
Himalayas but backed off last week(AFP/File)
The summit had been carefully stage-managed by hosts China to project an image of developing-world solidarity.
New
Delhi announced early last week that both countries were pulling back
their border forces, while Beijing said only that India had withdrawn
"all its border personnel and equipment that were illegally on the
Chinese territory".
Afterward, Chinese
Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing "hopes the Indian side will learn
lessons from this incident and prevent similar things from happening
again".
India does not claim Doklam for
itself but is closely allied with Bhutan, which it regards as a buffer
against rival China to the north.
India and China have a long history of mistrust and went to war in 1962 over the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh
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