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 Modi and Xi emerged from a long meeting to address a news
conference shortly after officials confirmed that the soldiers had
pulled back from their positions in a barren area of the Ladakh
plateau in the western Himalayas claimed by both nations.
"I raised our serious concern over repeated incidents along the
border," said a stern-sounding Modi, a nationalist who was elected
in May partly on promises to build a more assertive India.
"There should be peace in our relations and in the borders. If this
happens we can realize true potential of our relations," he said,
with Xi sitting to his right.
Dozens of soldiers from both sides had faced off on the Ladakh
plateau for over a week in a dispute about infrastructure works near
the de facto border, where the two countries fought a brief war in
1962.
Raising hopes for a renewed push to resolve their territorial
differences, Modi called for an early border settlement with China.
The two sides have held 17 rounds of border talks since the early
1990s without making significant progress. Modi has not assigned a
special envoy to restart the talks since he took office in May.
"We have to address the boundary question very soon," Modi said,
urging "clarification" of the Line of Actual Control - the front
line where fighting ended in the 1962 war.
In his speech at the same event, Xi played down the tensions and
agreed with Modi that they should work to settle the border question
at an early date, reiterating language China has used in the past.
"Sometimes there might be certain incidents, but the two sides are
fully capable of acting promptly to effectively manage the
situation," he said.
INVESTMENT BOON
Despite the tension, the two sides were able to agree on investments
aimed at significantly upgrading their commercial relationship, with
China pledging $20 billion for industrial parks and infrastructure
including railway technology.
They agreed to begin talks on cooperating in the nuclear power
industry and Xi said China would support India becoming a full
member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization - a regional
security body whose largest members are China and Russia.
Modi is keen on Chinese investment to help balance $65 billion in
annual trade that is heavily tilted in China's favor. Xi promised
more access for India's pharmaceutical, farming and fuel products to
China.
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M.D. Nalapat, who heads the department of geopolitics at India's
Manipal University, said India's new government saw that working
with China was 90 percent upside, and should not be undermined by
the two countries' differences.
"Modi is looking at an opportunity, and will not sacrifice it
because of the 10 percent threat," Nalapat said in an article
written for the Gateway House think tank. "China needs India – as
a market, as a source of trained manpower, and as a friendly
neighbor. I believe that Xi has the ability to break through the
negativism about India."
Another irritant for China is the presence in India of exiled
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who has lived in the north
of the country since fleeing a failed uprising against Chinese rule
of his homeland in 1959. A government of exiled Tibetans and tens of
thousands of refugees are also based in India.
In one sign that India wanted the Xi visit to be a success, New
Delhi asked the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing labels a dangerous
separatist seeking an independent Tibet, to reschedule an event in
the capital so that it would not clash with the Chinese president's
trip.
About 20 supporters of a free Tibet, mainly women, protested within
a few meters of the building in New Delhi where Modi and Xi were
holding talks, waving Tibetan flags and shouting "We want justice."
Police detained them after a few minutes.
Several other small pro-Tibet protests broke out across the city.
Speaking in India's financial center, Mumbai, the Dalai Lama said Xi
should use his visit to learn from the Indian experience of
democratic rule, and learn democratic practices. He also linked the
border flare-ups to Tibet, which stretches the full length of the
Chinese side of the border with India.
(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING, Fayaz Bukhari in
SRINAGAR, Sanjeev Miglani and Rajesh Kumar Singh in NEW DELHI and
Neha Dasgupta in MUMBAI; Editing by John Chalmers)
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