PM Modi, President Xi interact briefly, shake hands at Brics Summit

This was the first time the two leaders interacted in public since their brief interaction during last year’s G20 Summit in Bali. PM Modi and President Xi had met briefly at a formal dinner hosted by Indonesian President Joko Widodo on November 16, 2022

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping interacted briefly ahead of a news conference by leaders of the Brics grouping in Johannesburg on Thursday.

PM Modi and President Xi, who sat on either side of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, also spoke briefly and shook hands at the conclusion of the news conference (AFP Photo)

Footage beamed by South Africa’s public broadcaster SABC from the venue of the news conference showed the two leaders speaking to each other as they walked towards the dais from where they subsequently delivered their remarks.

The footage showed them interacting for less than a minute. Modi and Xi, who sat on either side of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, also spoke again briefly and shook hands at the conclusion of the news conference.

There was no immediate official word from the Indian or Chinese side regarding the interaction.

This was the first time the two leaders interacted in public since their brief interaction during last year’s G20 Summit in Bali. Modi and Xi had met briefly at a formal dinner hosted by Indonesian President Joko Widodo on November 16, 2022.

At that time, the Indian side had characterised the interaction as merely an exchange of courtesies.

But after China’s foreign ministry contended in July that Modi and Xi had “reached an important consensus on stabilising China-India relations” during the Bali interaction, the external affairs ministry said the leaders had discussed the need to stabilise bilateral ties.

There has been intense speculation about a possible bilateral meeting between Modi and Xi on the margins of the Brics Summit in Johannesburg following a string of diplomatic and military meetings between the two sides.

Indian and Chinese corps commanders held their 19th round of talks on the standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) at the Chushul-Moldo border point on August 13-14, and this was followed by several rounds of talks among local commanders that began on August 18, people familiar with the matter said.

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and external affairs mister S Jaishankar met China’s foreign mister Wang Yi on the sidelines of multilateral meetings in July and discussed the border standoff.