by Roger McKenzie

CHINA and India agreed on Thursday to work together to de-escalate tensions at the disputed border between the two countries.

The agreement was reached between the world’s most populous countries during a meeting held on the sidelines of the Brics summit in Johannesburg.

Brics is a bloc of developing economies named for its current five members — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that part of the de-escalation would be for each side to bring home thousands of their troops deployed along the Himalayan border.

India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra told reporters that during an impromptu meeting between the two leaders Mr Modi highlighted India’s concerns to Mr Xi about their unresolved border issues.

The disputed boundary, with Indian claims drawn up by the British empire never having been recognised by China, has led to a three-year standoff between tens of thousands of Indian and Chinese soldiers in the Ladakh area. 

A clash three years ago in the region killed 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese troops.

Mr Kwatra said that the two leaders agreed to intensify efforts and later the Chinese embassy in New Delhi tweeted a Foreign Ministry statement saying that President Xi stressed that improving China-India relations served their common interests and was also conducive to peace, stability and development.

“The two sides should bear in mind the overall interests of their bilateral relations and properly handle the border issue so as to jointly safeguard peace and tranquillity in the border region,” the statement said.

India and China fought a war over their border in 1962. 

China claims some 35,000 square miles of territory controlled by India, including Arunachal Pradesh, with its mainly Buddhist population.

India says China occupies 15,000 square miles of its territory in the Aksai Chin Plateau, which India considers part of Ladakh, where the current standoff is happening.