XIAMEN, Sept 5 - Putting behind the Dokalam standoff, India and China today agreed to move forward in their ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping telling Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he wants to put the relationship on the �right track�.
Days after the prolonged standoff in the Doklam area of the Sikkim sector was defused, the two leaders held an hour- long meeting which Modi described as �fruitful�.
During their meeting here, the two leaders agreed that the two countries should make more efforts, including strengthening cooperation between their security personnel, to ensure that such incidents do not recur.
�Met President Xi Jinping. We held fruitful talks on bilateral relations between India and China,� Modi tweeted after meeting Xi.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said the approach was �forward-looking� during the �constructive� meeting in which it was reaffirmed that maintaining peace and tranquillity in the border areas was a pre-requisite for the development of India-China relations.
Asked if both the countries have left behind the Dokalam episode, he said, �It was a forward-looking conversation... And not a backward-looking one.�
Prime Minister Modi and President Xi talked about inter-governmental mechanisms such as joint economic group, security group and strategic group which can help both countries move forward, Jaishankar said.
The two leaders also emphasised on the need to make efforts to enhance and strengthen the mutual trust between the two sides, he said, adding that it was felt that �the security and defence personnel must maintain strong contacts and cooperation and ensure that the situation which happened recently does not recur.�
Jaishankar said it was natural between two neighbours or large powers to have differences but they should be handled with mutual respect and efforts should be made to find common ground in addressing them.
He said that there was a reaffirmation of the Astana spirit that the two sides will not allow differences to become disputes.
There was a very strong affirmation at the leadership level that it is in the interest of both the countries to keep this relationship on an upward trajectory, the foreign secretary said.
In his initial remarks during the meeting, Modi congratulated Xi on hosting a �very successful� BRICS Summit, saying that the conference was a success in making the grouping more relevant in a fast-changing world.
Xi told Modi that, �China would like to work with India to uphold the five principles of peaceful coexistence (Panchsheel), advance political mutual trust, mutually beneficial cooperation and move forward the development of bilateral relations along the right track,� according to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang. � PTI
