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NEW DELHI: India is committed to improving ties with China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday, as the world’s two most populous nations pursue a warming in relations in the wake of shared tensions with the US.

Modi flew to China to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Tianjin, along with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders from South and Central Asia.

It is the Indian prime minister’s first visit to China since the SCO summit in Wuhan in 2018, as relations were later strained for years following deadly clashes along their Himalayan border.

Talks over the disputed border resumed earlier this month, with Beijing top diplomat Wang Yi’s visit to New Delhi.

“An atmosphere of peace and stability has been created after the disengagement on the border. Agreements have been reached between our special representatives regarding border management,” Modi said in his opening remarks during his meeting with Xi, a video of which he shared on social media.

“The interests of 2.8 billion people of both the countries are linked to our cooperation. This will also pave the way for the welfare of the entire humanity. We are committed to taking our relations forward on the basis of mutual trust, respect and sensitivity.”

The nuclear-armed neighbors were locked in a standoff triggered by deadly clashes along their Himalayan border, known as the Line of Actual Control, in 2020.

Tens of thousands of troops, tanks, and artillery have since been deployed on both sides of the LAC, with both countries building new roads, bunkers, and airstrips in the high-altitude area.

India restricted Chinese investments, banned dozens of Chinese apps, and scrutinized trade ties, as it deepened relations with Beijing’s rivals — the US, Japan, and Australia.

But US President Donald Trump’s trade war, in which, in early August, he hiked the total duty on Indian exports over New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, has created an opening for the two Asian giants to seek to mend their ties.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs quoted Modi as saying during the meeting with Xi that both countries “pursue strategic autonomy, and their relations should not be seen through a third country lens.”

The statement, according to Manoj Kewalramani, chairperson of the Indo-Pacific Research Program and a China studies fellow at the Takshashila Institution, needed to be considered in Beijing’s “strategic cognition,” as well as its vision of Asia’s multipolarity.

“It is high time that Beijing began viewing India for India’s sake, and not via Washington, D.C.-tinted glasses,” he said.

“On the issue of multipolarity, both sides have long agreed that the world should be moving in that direction. The difference between them, however, has been about whether global multipolarity also entails a multipolar Asia. The Indian readout reiterates this objective of Asian multipolarity, whereas the Chinese readout does not do so.”

MOSCOW: The Kremlin said that European powers were hindering US President Donald Trump’s efforts to achieve peace in Ukraine and that Russia would continue its operation in Ukraine until Moscow saw real signs that Kyiv was ready for peace.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state media reporters that the “European party of war” was continuing to hinder US and Russian efforts on Ukraine.
“We are ready to resolve the problem by political and diplomatic means,” Peskov said. “But so far we do not see reciprocity from Kyiv in this. So we shall continue the special military operation.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered tens of thousands of troops to invade Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops.
The United States says over 1.2 million people have been killed and injured in the war since 2022. Russia currently controls a little under one fifth of Ukraine.
European powers say that they do not believe Putin wants peace in Ukraine. Putin has repeatedly said he is ready to discuss peace but that Russia will not give up any of the land that it has taken in Ukraine.
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said on Friday that the Russian army had sped up its rate of advance in Ukraine and was taking control of 600-700 square km (502 square miles) a month compared to 300-400 square km at the start of the year.