INDIAN and Chinese leaders have pledged to resolve a long-running border dispute that led to a bloody 1962 war, with a stand-off between troops on the remote frontier overshadowing a rare summit in New Delhi.India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he had expressed concerns to China's visiting President Xi Jinping about 'incidents' on the disputed border in the northern Ladakh region, where reports said hundreds of troops were facing off.
'I expressed concern on the incidents on the border and said peace and tranquillity on the border is the foundation for good relations,' said Mr Modi at a briefing after talks with Mr Xi.
'(Xi) agreed that the boundary question must be resolved soon.'
The two countries have long been embroiled in a bitter dispute over their border, with both accusing soldiers of crossing over into the other's territory.
Mr Xi, the first Chinese president to visit India in eight years, said Beijing would work with New Delhi to maintain 'peace and tranquillity' until the border issue was settled.
The neighbours, now nuclear-armed, fought a brief but bloody war in 1962 over the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh and are still embroiled in a bitter dispute over the territory.
Last year India accused Chinese troops of intruding deep into Indian-held territory, sparking a three-week stand-off only resolved when troops from both sides pulled back.
Details of the latest incident remain sketchy.
An Indian army official who asked not to be named said there was 'an ongoing situation' with Chinese soldiers in Ladakh, while a local MP said about 1000 Chinese troops had crossed into the Indian side of the disputed area.
K. G. Suresh, a fellow at New Delhi's Vivekanand International Foundation think-tank, said the timing was no coincidence and that it echoed an incursion when Chinese Premier Li Kequiang visited Delhi last year.
'I think the timing of the incursion is deliberate,' he said.
Suresh said China wanted to convey the message that 'you may have the best of relations with our archrivals Japan and Vietnam, but you will have to ultimately deal with us'.
Modi has rolled out the red carpet for Mr Xi, hosting a private dinner in a luxury riverside tent in his home city of Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
India's newly-elected leader is eager to secure Chinese funding to fulfil his election pledge to overhaul his country's crumbling infrastructure, which has held back economic growth in the country of 1.2 billion people.
But he has also signalled he will pursue a more muscular foreign policy than his centre-left predecessor Manmohan Singh, who critics say was too soft on China.
Entities 0 Name: India Count: 4 1 Name: New Delhi Count: 3 2 Name: China Count: 3 3 Name: Modi Count: 2 4 Name: Ladakh Count: 2 5 Name: Xi Count: 1 6 Name: Li Kequiang Count: 1 7 Name: Beijing Count: 1 8 Name: Delhi Count: 1 9 Name: Manmohan Singh Count: 1 10 Name: Ahmedabad Count: 1 11 Name: Vietnam Count: 1 12 Name: K. G. Suresh Count: 1 13 Name: Arunachal Pradesh Count: 1 14 Name: Japan Count: 1 15 Name: Suresh Count: 1 16 Name: Narendra Modi Count: 1 17 Name: Vivekanand International Foundation Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1tnzyQe Title: Another Transgression On Way In Ladakh As Chinese President Xi Jinping Begins India Visit Description: The stand-off started almost a week ago at Chumur, which stands at the intersection of the international border and the Line of Actual Control, the de facto border between the two nations. The Chinese soldiers had brought in in heavy construction equipment and a large labour force to try and build a road up to the border.
