<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Chinese President Xi Jinping and IndianPrime Minister Narendra Modi held "candid and in-depth" talks to ease tensions along their disputed frontier, Beijing said Friday, after a rare face-to-face encounter between the two leaders.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Relations between the world's two most populous countries have been in deep&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">freeze since a deadly Himalayan border clash that killed 20 Indian soldiers&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">and at least four Chinese troops in 2020.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Tens of thousands of soldiers have since been massed along both sides of the&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">border. They remain despite 19 rounds of talks between top military officials&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">of both countries.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The leaders met Thursday while attending the BRICS summit in South Africa in&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">what China's foreign ministry characterised as a "candid and in-depth&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">exchange of views".</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"President Xi stressed that improving China-India relations serves the common&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">interests of the two countries and peoples," a ministry spokesman said&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Friday.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The two sides should bear in mind the overall interests of their bilateral</div><div style="text-align: justify;">relations and handle properly the border issue so as to jointly safeguard</div><div style="text-align: justify;">peace."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">India's foreign secretary said Modi had highlighted unresolved issues along&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">the Line of Actual Control (LAC) that divides India's Himalayan region of&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Ladakh from Chinese territory, where the deadly 2020 clash took place.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"Modi underlined that... observing and respecting the LAC are essential for&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">normalising India-China relationship," Vinay Kwatra told reporters Thursday.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">India has been wary of its northern neighbour's growing military</div><div style="text-align: justify; ">assertiveness and disputes over the two Asian giants' 3,500-kilometre (2,200-&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">mile) shared frontier have been a perennial source of tension.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">China also claims all of India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh,</div><div style="text-align: justify; ">considering it part of Tibet, and the Asian giants fought a full-scale border&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">war there in 1962.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Both countries have regularly accused each other of trying to seize territory&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">along their unofficial divide, known as the Line of Actual Control.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The clash in 2020 along the border dividing Tibet from India's state of</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ladakh led to a sharp deterioration in relations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Modi's government has pumped billions of dollars into connectivity projects&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">on its side of the border to boost civilian presence, and establish new&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">paramilitary battalions.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is also seeking to develop closer ties with Western countries including</div><div style="text-align: justify; ">fellow Quad members the United States, Japan, and Australia, which are&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">themselves wooing it as an alternative to China.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Nineteen rounds of military talks between Beijing and New Delhi, including&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">the latest earlier this month, have failed to make headway on the border&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">disputes.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Xi and Modi have both been present at numerous multilateral diplomatic&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">meetings since the 2020 clashes.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">But Thursday marked the first face-to-face encounter between the two leaders&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">since a brief interaction at the G20 Summit in Bali last November. AFP</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>