Modi, Xi will issue strategic guidance to militaries to ease border tension

The two sides have held 20 rounds of talks to resolve the boundary dispute and worked out different mechanisms to keep peace along the 3,488-km long Line of Actual Control

Wrapping up the two-day informal summit, the leaders of Asia’s two most-populous countries agreed to strengthen communication between their militaries to avoid disputes along their contested Himalayan border.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping have decided to issue “strategic guidance” to their militaries to strengthen communication in order to build trust and mutual understanding, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said on Saturday.

He said the leaders will direct their militaries to earnestly implement various confidence building measures agreed upon between the two sides, including the principle of mutual and equal security, and strengthen existing institutional arrangements and information sharing mechanisms