Xi urges healthy ties

BRICS urges co-op against terror

XIAMEN, China, Sept 5, (Agencies): Chinese President Xi Jinping sought Tuesday to move past a tense border dispute with India, telling Prime Minister Narendra Modi the two nucleararmed neighbours should pursue “healthy, stable” relations, according to China’s state media.

The exchange occurred on the sidelines of the just-ended summit of BRICS emerging economies hosted by Xi in the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen.

Xi told Modi that “healthy, stable bilateral ties” were “in line with the fundamental interests” of the neighbours, the official Xinhua news agency said.

“China is willing to work with India on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence which were put forward by both countries to improve political mutual trust, promote mutually beneficial cooperation, and push Sino-Indian ties along a right track,” the report quoted him as saying.

An Indian foreign ministry spokesman also tweeted that the two leaders had a “constructive and forward-looking” talk.

Armed forces of the two countries engaged in a bitter, weeks-long military confrontation in a disputed and strategically important Himalayan area.

The contested area, Doklam, is claimed by both China and Bhutan, an ally of India.

Building

The stand-off began on June 16 when Chinese troops started building a road in the area.

India deployed troops to stop the construction project, prompting Beijing to accuse it of trespassing on Chinese soil and sparking one of the worst crises in decades between the two countries, which have a history of mistrust.

Meanwhile, the BRICS group of five major emerging economies called Monday for reform of the United Nations and tougher measures against terrorist groups, while denouncing North Korea’s latest nuclear test at a summit in China that seeks to enlarge the organization’s presence on the world stage.

The nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa— agreed in a joint declaration to strengthen cooperation against a range of organizations it described as terrorist, including some based in Pakistan, in a diplomatic victory for New Delhi.

The five also pledged their opposition to protectionism, a theme increasingly taken up by host Chinese President Xi Jinping as anti-globalization sentiment in the West poses a threat to China’s vast export markets.

In the 43-page declaration, Xi, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Brazilian President Michel Temer and South African President Jacob Zuma said they would work together to improve global economic governance to foster “a more just and equitable international order.”

Strongly

They also strongly condemned North Korea’s sixth — and most powerful — nuclear test that took place Sunday and has overshowed the twoday BRICS summit in the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen that China is using as a showcase for its growing international status.

In related news, Pakistan on Tuesday rejected a statement by the five emerging-market BRICS powers that militant groups in Pakistan pose a regional security concern, with its defence minister saying no group operates freely inside Pakistan.

The minister’s response follows a statement on Monday by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa that also called for patrons of the Pakistanbased militant groups to be held to account.

“These organizations, they have some of their remnants in Pakistan, which we’re cleaning,” Defence Minister Khurram Dastagir Khan told the Geo TV channel, without specifying which groups he was referring to.

“But Pakistan, we reject this thing categorically, no terrorist organization has any complete safe havens.”

The groups named by the BRICS include anti-India militant factions such as Jaish-e-Mohammad, which was blamed for a 2001 attack on India’s parliament, and Lashkar-e-Taiba, which India blames for cross-border attacks including a 2008 assault in its financial capital Mumbai in which 166 people were killed.

Another group the BRICS named was the Haqqani network, which is allied with the Afghan Taliban militants waging war on the US-backed government in Kabul and foreign forces there.