India’s Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar said border peace remains central to improving relations with China, urging both countries to address disputes as they pursue a settlement of their long-standing boundary, NDTV reported.
At the NDTV World Summit in New Delhi on Thursday, Oct. 22, Jaishankar said India and China should expect differences as large neighboring countries and work through them. “There will be issues,” he said, according to NDTV. He said concrete boundary discussions could begin at a starting point, while a final agreement must resolve the border in its entirety. NDTV did not report a proposed starting area or timetable.
The comments followed a Sept. 12 meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping. India’s Prime Minister’s Office said Modi called border peace essential to bilateral ties; both leaders reaffirmed support for a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable boundary settlement. The office also said they welcomed progress in relations since their previous meeting in Tianjin in August 2025.
The same readout listed structural trade imbalance, supply-chain issues and market access among concerns for the two countries. NDTV also reported that Jaishankar linked the 2020 breakdown in border peace with effects on trade, political relations and civil-society exchanges.
Jaishankar said earlier agreements established procedures for handling patrols and encounters along the frontier, NDTV reported. Agreements from 1993 and 1996 address peace along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and military confidence-building measures, according to India’s Ministry of External Affairs. The boundary itself remains unsettled.
The Associated Press described the September meeting as part of an effort to reset ties strained by the 2020 border clash. India’s government said the Galwan Valley violence on June 15, 2020, killed 20 Indian military personnel.
