India-China border row: PM Modi not in ‘good mood’ over ‘big conflict’, says US President Donald Trump

"I can tell you; I did speak to Prime Minister Modi. He is not in a good mood about what is going on with China," Trump said during an interaction with reporters at the White House.

India-China Border Issue: A day after he offered to mediate on the ongoing border dispute between India and China, US President Donald Trump on Friday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not in a ‘good mood’ over the conflict between the two neighbouring countries. Trump said he talked to PM Modi and reiterated his offer to help the Asian nations resolve the issue.

“They have a big conflict India and China. Two countries with 1.4 billion people (each). Two countries with very powerful militaries. India is not happy and probably China is not happy,” Trump said during an interaction with reporters at the White House.

“I can tell you; I did speak to Prime Minister Modi. He is not in a good mood about what is going on with China,” the US President said when asked whether he was worried about the situation between India and China.

“I would do that (mediate). If they thought it would help” about “mediate or arbitrate, I would do that,” he added in response to a question over his tweet a day ago in which he had asserted that he was “ready, willing and able to mediate” between India and China.

WATCH VIDEO: PM Modi not in ‘good mood’ over border row with China, says Donald Trump 

Soon after Trump’s tweet on Wednesday, India had indicated that it would not appreciate any interference by a third country stressing that New Delhi was engaged with Beijing to resolve the border row peacefully.

“We are engaged with the Chinese side to peacefully resolve it.The two sides have established mechanisms both at military and diplomatic levels to resolve situations which may arise in border areas peacefully through dialogue and continue to remain engaged through these channels,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava had said during a media briefing.

In an apparent change in its stance, China on Wednesday said that the “overall stable and controllable.” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian stated that both China and India have proper mechanisms and communication channels to resolve the issues through dialogue and consultations.

Border skirmishes

According to reports, hundreds of Chinese soldiers were involved in a violent face-off with Indian troops on May 5 in Pangong Tso area of Ladakh. Over 100 Indian and Chinese soldiers were injured in the incident, news agency PTI reported. The situation was brought under control only after a meeting of local commanders of both the countries.

A similar incident took place between the soldiers of the two countries near Naku La Pass in the Sikkim sector on May 9.

In 2017,  India and China were engaged in stand-off in Doklam tri-junction for 73 days.