Modi-Xi meet flags ‘forward looking’ ties, border peace: 

Modi-Xi meet flags ‘forward looking’ ties, border peace:

CONTEXT

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping had a one on one meeting during the BRICS 2017 summit in Xiamen, China. This happened in the backdrop of the recently resolved Doklam standoff in the Sikkim sector.

NEED TO AVOID SITUATIONS LIKE THE RECENT STANDOFF

• The two leaders agreed that efforts should be made to ensure defence and security personnel must maintain strong contact and cooperation at the borders to avoid Doklam like situations in future.

FORWARD-LOOKING TIES

• Looking beyond the Doklam crisis, both the nations decided to open a new “forward looking” round of engagement, anchored by fresh mechanisms to prevent recurrence of Doklam like incidents.

EXISTING MECHANISM

• It is to be noted that the two nations already have a mechanism of Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) in place. This 1996 agreement provides for border security and confidence measures between the parties to the agreement.
• It calls for military disclosure when the parties are undertaking border exercises and for the reduction of troop levels in the border areas.

PEACE AND TRANQUILITY

• It was noted that peace and tranquillity at the border are the prerequisites for the further development of the bilateral relations.

ROLE OF OTHER ORGANIZATIONS

• The Foreign Secretary of India pointed out that organizations such as BRICS and Asian Infrastructure Development Bank (AIIB) could supplement the interaction between the two countries at the inter-governmental level.
• Growing Perception in the Chinese intelligentsia
• In China, there is a growing perception among a section of the intelligentsia that the closure of the Doklam crisis had opened a fresh round of calibrated bonding between the two countries.

WAY FORWARD

• It is important that the positive spirit and the will to cooperate, shown by both the sides at the BRICS summit, does not lose steam in the midst of regional issues and political rhetoric, and both sides should engage swiftly to formulate an effective forward-looking mechanism to shape the future bilateral ties between the two nations for mutual benefit.