Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised India’s concerns at his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and made it clear that both sides should show sensitivity to each other’s “core” issues, the external affairs ministry said on Tuesday against the backdrop of efforts to normalise bilateral ties.
He did not go into details regarding India’s concerns.
“Prime Minister referred to Indian concerns as well, and underlined those, that both sides should show sensitivity to each other’s core concerns and be guided by three mutuals — mutual respect, mutual interest and mutual sensitivity,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told a regular media briefing.
Jaiswal was responding to a question on the opposition Congress party’s contention that the Indian side had weakened its position on border transgressions by China while deepening economic dependence on Beijing . Xi listed four points for promoting bilateral ties — China and India are partners, not rivals; both sides should focus on development, strengthening friendly exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation; they should commit to parallel development and mutual promotion of bilateral relations and border issues; and benefit the world through inclusive multilateral cooperation.
The Chinese readout had said that India’s position on issues related to Taiwan and Tibet “remain unchanged”, and that the Indian side “will not allow any force to engage in anti-China activities on its territories”. People familiar with the matter said both sides had raised their concerns during the talks, with India taking up the need to maintain peace and tranquillity along the border. Jaiswal was also asked about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s remarks that Modi and Xi had reached an “important consensus” that India and China should be partners, and he replied that the Indian side had already issued a detailed readout on the discussions. The two leaders “expressed commitment to a fair, reasonable, and mutually acceptable resolution of the boundary question proceeding from the political perspective of their overall bilateral relations”, the external affairs ministry said. Modi and Xi welcomed the “steady progress” in India-China relations since their last meeting at Tianjin in August 2025, and said differences should not become disputes between the two countries. Xi said his two meetings with Modi since 2024, when the two sides reached an understanding on being the standoff in Ladakh, have guided bilateral ties from a “restart” to a “further enhancement”.
