India hopes to completely end stand-off with China at LAC ahead of BRICS summit

BRICS – a bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – on November 17 last had its last annual summit virtually in view of Covid-19

The government hopes to completely resolve the military stand-off between India and China within the next two or three months in order to create a conducive atmosphere for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to host Chinese President Xi Jinping for the BRICS summit later this year.

Though it may take years to narrow trust deficit created by China’s aggressive moves along its Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India over the past 10 months, New Delhi is keen to restore some degree of cordiality in bilateral relations ahead of the BRICS summit, which the prime minister is set to host and the Chinese President is expected to attend.

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The BRICS – a bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – on November 17 last had its last annual summit virtually in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, with Russian President Vladimir Putin chairing it from Moscow. Though the stand-off along the disputed boundary between India and China was on, both prime minister and the Chinese President participated in the virtual summit.

It is now the PM's turn to host the 2021 BRICS summit and it may be held with all other BRICS leaders physically attending it, of course, if the Covid-19 situation does not worsen in India.

“It will be a bit awkward if the prime minister has to host Chinese President for the BRICS summit even when the soldiers of India and China are engaged in an eyeball-to-eyeball stand-off along the LAC,” a source told the DH in New Delhi.

He pointed out that unlike the 2020 virtual conclave, a BRICS summit with all leaders attending it physically would have to have a bilateral meeting between the prime minister, who would be the host and the Chinese President.

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“A conducive atmosphere for such meetings could be created only if the stand-off could be resolved before the summit”.

The Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Amy (PLA) of late agreed on a mutual disengagement process from the face-off points on the northern and southern banks of Pangong Tso in eastern Ladakh. The two sides started withdrawing forward deployments from both banks of the lake in a “phased, coordinated and verified manner” last Wednesday.