Modi, Xi shake hands for the first time since Galvan

Footage from the official YouTube channel of the Indonesian Presidential Secretariat showed Modi sitting and chatting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, when Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan stopped nearby to hold talks with Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

Modi was seen getting up from his seat and smilingly shaking hands with Xi.

Accompanied by an interpreter, Modi spoke to Xi for a few minutes.

The two leaders, dressed in batik shirts, were soon joined by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

Many people gathered around the two leaders and started capturing the moment with their mobile phone cameras.

There has been no statement from the Indian authorities on the encounter at Garuda Vishnu Kenkana Cultural Park. There was no readout from the Chinese side either.

A person familiar with the matter said: “The prime minister and President Xi, who were both attending the G20 dinner hosted by the Indonesian president, exchanged courtesies at the conclusion of the dinner.”

Indian and Chinese leaders last avoided each other during an individual multilateral meeting-Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan during September 15-16.

People with knowledge of the matter said the two sides made no effort to set up a formal bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the event. g20 summit,

India-China relations have been at an all-time low since the standoff in the Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) began.

Twenty Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese soldiers were killed in a brutal clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 – the first casualties along the LAC since 1975.

China has said that border tensions should be delinked from the overall bilateral relationship. Jaishankar has consistently said that India-China relations cannot be normal unless there is peace and tranquility on the border.