PM Modi had no talks with Donald Trump on border standoff with China: Officials

The government clarified that the two leaders had their last conversation on April 4.

Just hours after United States President Donald Trump claimed that he had spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the border conflict between India and China, the government denied that there any had been any recent contact between the two leaders, ANI reported, quoting unidentified officials.

“The last conversation between them [Modi and Trump] was on April 4 on the subject of hydroxychloroquine,” unidentified officials told the news agency.

The Centre also said that India and China had been communicating about the border dispute directly. “Yesterday [Wednesday], the Ministry of External Affairs had also made it clear that we are directly in touch with the Chinese through established mechanisms and diplomatic contacts,” The Indian Express quoted government officials as saying.

On Thursday, Trump referred to the border tensions between India and China as a “big conflict” and said that Modi was not “in a good mood” because of the situation. A day before that, Trump had offered to mediate between India and China amid the escalating border tensions.

In response to Trump’s offer on China, India on Thursday said its troops were approaching border management responsibly and that the two countries had mechanisms in place to resolve tensions through bilateral talks.

Over the last two weeks, Chinese troops have clashed with the Indian Army at several points along the Line of Actual Control. India and China do not share a defined and demarcated border. Instead, there is the Line of Actual Control, which stretches thousands of kilometres from Ladakh all the way to Arunachal Pradesh.

The dispute between India and China centres around a strategic bridge being built near Daulat Beg Oldi, a military post south of the Karakoram Pass. China has reportedly asked India to stop building infrastructure even on its own side of the LAC. New Delhi, on the other hand, has asked Beijing to maintain status quo on the border. In recent weeks, India and China have reportedly deployed additional troops along the LAC at North Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh.