NEW DELHI: Indian and Chinese troops exchanged boxes of sweets on Thursday at two points on their disputed highland border, a week after the leaders of the Asian rivals held a rare meeting.
An Indian army official, who was not authorized to speak to reporters, confirmed that “sweets were exchanged between Indian and Chinese forces at several border points on the occasion of Diwali.”
Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said Thursday that New Delhi’s efforts “will aim to move the matter beyond disengagement,” but added that it “will have to wait a little longer.” Trust journalism in India The news agency quoted him as saying.
Pictures released by the Indian Army showed soldiers shaking hands and handing over boxes of gift-wrapped sweets in the rugged, frozen mountains of Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, on the occasion of the Hindu festival of lights, Diwali.
China and India, the world’s two most populous countries, are in intense competition, and each has accused the other of trying to seize territory along their informal dividing line, known as the Line of Actual Control.
However, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met on the sidelines of the BRICS meeting in Russia on October 23, their first official meeting in five years.
At their meeting, Xi said they should “strengthen communication and cooperation”, while Modi said “mutual trust” would guide relations with China.
This signals a potential thaw between the two nuclear-armed neighbors since clashes between their forces in 2020 on their border, which left at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers dead.
After the 2020 clashes, more than 20 rounds of military talks were held.
The two sides withdrew tens of thousands of their forces and agreed not to send patrols to the narrow dividing strip.
But two key points remained where troops and tanks from both sides stared at each other.
On October 21, days before Xi and Modi met, an agreement was reached to withdraw a few hundred soldiers deployed in forward positions, a term called “disengagement,” and to resume military patrols.
India is wary of its northern neighbour, and disputes over the 3,500-kilometre (2,200-mile) border have been a constant source of tension.
China claims the entire state of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India, considering it part of Tibet, and the two countries fought a border war in 1962.