How India and China Are Trying to Mend Fences

After five years of disagreements, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met at the BRICS summit in Russia. This meeting is a step toward healing relations that were damaged by a serious military clash in 2020 along their shared border in the Himalayas. Both leaders agreed that communication and cooperation need to improve, and conflicts must be resolved for their countries to move forward. India and China are huge economies with strong trade ties, but military and diplomatic tensions have been causing problems. Before this meeting, they had not held official talks since the clash that resulted in the deaths of 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers. Now, they seem ready to work things out and reduce the tension along their border. The meeting comes just after India and China announced a deal to end their four-year military standoff in the Himalayan region of Ladakh. However, they haven't shared the details of this deal yet. Both leaders emphasized the importance of peace, stability, mutual trust, and respect in maintaining good relations. This isn't the first time they've met since the clash. They briefly talked at the G20 summit in Bali and again at the BRICS summit in Johannesburg. But this was the first formal meeting in five years, showing a potential thaw in their relations. Diplomatic efforts have been intensifying over the past few months. Their foreign ministers met in July and agreed to increase talks to ease the border tensions. India has been making efforts to improve their business and political ties with China, but they wanted a solution to the border standoff first. Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said there's hope for better relations. He believes that restoring peace along the border will allow for the normalization of their bilateral relations.