New Delhi: China sought to downplay the eastern Ladakh border standoff on Friday, saying the boundary question does not represent the "entirety" of the bilateral relations, while India offered contradictory views on how to characterise the conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping in Johannesburg two days ago.
The Chinese foreign ministry released a readout of the phone call between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in which it stated that President Xi Jinping told PM Modi that both countries should "bear in mind" the "overall interests" of the ties and "properly" address the border problem.
Hours after Beijing's statement on Modi-Xi conversation claimed it was held at the Indian side's request, Indian sources said there was a "pending request" from the Chinese side for a bilateral meeting, suggesting that New Delhi has not heeded to it.—Inputs from Agencies