Narendra Modi-Xi Jinping meet in South Africa at China's behest: India

New Delhi has refuted Beijing's claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Thursday meeting with president Xi Jinping was on India's request.

"There was a pending request from the Chinese side for a bilateral meeting," and that led to the two leaders holding an informal conversation at the Leaders Lounge during the Brics Summit in Johannesburg, an Indian government official said.

The Chinese readout had said Modi and Xi had a "candid and in-depth exchange of views on current China-India relations and other questions of shared interest." Xi stressed on "improving China-India relations which serves common interests of the two countries and peoples, and is also conducive to peace, stability and development of the world and the region," the readout said.


Briefing reporters in Johannesburg on Thursday foreign secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra had said Modi and Xi agreed on "expeditious disengagement and de-escalation" along the Line of Actual Control.

"It was a conversation with president Xi Jinping and, as I said, on the sidelines of the Brics summit. The prime minister had interactions with other Brics leaders. In that conversation with president Xi, the prime minister highlighted India's concerns at the unresolved issues along the Line of Actual Control in the western sector of the India-China border areas," Kwatra said.