Narendra Modi to host 13th BRICS summit, India says stand-off altered direction of its relations with China

The military stand-off between India and China altered the direction of the relations between the two nations, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to virtually host on Thursday the 13th BRICS summit, which Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend.

Jaishankar pointed out that China early last year had deployed a large number of troops in “very operational mode” along its Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India “without any good reason” and in “complete departure” from the efforts to keep the disputed boundary “peaceful and tranquil” through “a series of agreements” inked by the two nations.

He referred to the June 15, 2020, violent face-off between the Indian Army and Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) along the LAC at Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh. He noted that the clash had resulted in casualties on both sides.

“It (the military stand-off between India and China) has taken the relationship in a completely different direction,” said the External Affairs Minister, while virtually delivering the J G Crawford Oration 2021 at the Australian National University.

His comment on the status of India-China relations came on a day New Delhi announced that the Prime Minister would host the 13th summit of the BRICS – a bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – on Thursday.

Apart from Modi and Xi, President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, President Vladimir Putin of Russia, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa will take part in the virtual meeting.

After the India-China military stand-off along the LAC started in April-May 2020 and took the relations between the two neighbours to a new low, this is going to be the first multilateral event, which will be hosted by Modi and attended by Xi.

The theme for the summit is ‘BRICS@15: Intra-BRICS cooperation for continuity, consolidation and consensus’. India had outlined four priority areas for its term as the BRICS chair – Reform of the Multilateral System, Counter-Terrorism, Using Digital and Technological Tools for achieving Sustainable Development Goals and Enhancing People to People exchanges. “In addition to these areas, the leaders will also exchange views on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other current global and regional issues,” the MEA spokesperson said.