Xi congratulates President Murmu, says 'ready to work with her to deepen cooperation'

As Droupadi Murmu took over as the 15th President of India, Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated her, expressing his desire to work with her to “properly handle differences” between the two nations.

“I attach great importance to China-India relations and am ready to work with President Murmu to enhance political mutual trust, deepen practical cooperation, properly handle differences and push China-India relations forward on the right track,” Xi stated in his congratulatory message to Droupadi.

Xi’s message came even as the soldiers of the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) remained engaged in a stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

Read | Droupadi Murmu takes oath as India's 15th President

His message was in sync with the Chinese government’s stand that Beijing and New Delhi should move ahead and bring bilateral relations back on track, without waiting for the resolution of the two-year-long stand-off along the LAC.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government already rejected the Chinese government's proposal and made it clear that the process to normalise the bilateral relations could be started only when both sides would be able to mutually withdraw troops from the remaining face-off areas along the LAC.

“Sound and stable China-India relations serve the fundamental interests of the two countries and peoples and are also conducive to the peace, stability and development of the region and the world,” Xi started in his message congratulating Murmu.

The stand-off started in April-May 2020 with China amassing a large number of troops along its LAC with India, flouting the key 1993 and 1996 bilateral agreements for maintaining peace and tranquillity in the border areas pending the resolution of the boundary dispute through dialogue.

The Indian Army’s counter-deployment to resist aggressive moves by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army led to the stand-off. It reached a flashpoint on June 15, 2020, when the Indian Army lost 20 of its soldiers in a violent face-off with the Chinese PLA in the Galwan Valley. The PLA, much later, admitted that it had also lost four of its soldiers in the clash.

The negotiations between the two sides had resulted in the mutual withdrawal of troops by both sides from some of the face-off points along the LAC—from the Galwan Valley in June 2020, from both banks of Pangong Tso in February 2021, and from Gogra Post in August 2021.

The two sides, however, could not make any further progress in the negotiations over the past 11 months to end the stand-off in the remaining areas along the LAC.