NEW DELHI — India said it has agreed with China to de-escalate a tense, months-long border stand-off days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping are set to attend the BRICS Summit.
The two countries agreed to an “expeditious disengagement” of troops at Doklam, India’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday. The dispute had seen soldiers of the two nuclear-armed Asian giants facing off in a remote part of the Himalayas, near a shared border between Bhutan, China and India.
“In recent weeks, India and China have maintained diplomatic communication in respect of the incident at Doklam,” the statement read. “During these communications, we were able to express our views and convey our concerns and interests. On this basis, expeditious disengagement of border personnel at the face-off site at Doklam has been agreed to and is on-going.”
The BRICS Summit — involving leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — is due to be held in the coastal Chinese city of Xiamen from Sept. 3 to Sept. 5. — Bloomberg
