India says border peace critical to ties with China

NEW DELHI, Aug 12: India's foreign ministry said peace along its disputed border with China is critical to ties between the Asian neighbours, amid reports of renewed military tensions between the two countries' troops in a remote corner of the Himalayas.
New Delhi's comment is its second in less than a week and comes as the Asian giants, who share a long and disputed frontier, mend ties following deadly clashes in 2020. It also comes ahead of a BRICS summit in New Delhi from September 12 to 13 that Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to attend.
"In matters relating to the border areas between India and China, we have always emphasised in discussions with the Chinese side that we consider these issues as most serious," Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Tuesday at a regular media briefing.
"We have also stated that the state of the border affairs will reflect on the state of our larger bilateral ties," he added, responding to a question on new military tensions between the two sides.
The Chinese foreign and defence ministries did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Indian news website ThePrint reported after the foreign ministry briefing that Indian and Chinese army patrols came face to face in late July near Taksing, a remote border village in Arunachal Pradesh's Upper Subansiri district bordering Tibet.�"REUTERS