From Kazan to Tianjin

De-escalation on border must for better overall Sino-Indian ties

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HERE IS INTENSE global interest in how India and China, the two most populous nations in the world, would attempt to repair bilateral ties after a deadly border clash five years ago. In his first visit to China in seven years, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a bilateral meeting with China's President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin. This much-awaited meeting carries forward the processes set in motion when they last met at a BRICS summit in Kazan last October to address the imperative of peace and tranquillity on the Sino-Indo border and tasked their special representatives to oversee border management. As a result, India's National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, held two rounds of discussions during the last nine months. In his bilateral meeting with Xi, Modi noted the progress on this front that after disengagement, "an atmosphere of peace and stability is now in place". But the goal is to have de-escalation and de-induction as the presence of a large number