China backs New Delhi's hosting of BRICS summit, Xi Jinping may visit India

Signalling a thaw after months of tensions due to standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), China has said that it supports India's chairmanship of the BRICS summit this year.

New Delhi has assumed chairmanship of the annual summit of the BRICS grouping of emerging economies - which also includes Brazil, Russia and South Africa.

Chinese President Xi Jinping may visit India later this year for the summit.

Asked about Xi's possible attendance at the summit and whether the border tension would affect their multilateral cooperation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said BRICS had become an influential grouping and Beijing supported New Delhi's efforts as host, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.

"China attaches great importance to the BRICS mechsm," Wang said at a regular press conference on Monday. "The Chinese side supports the Indian side in hosting the meeting and is willing to work with India and other BRICS countries in expanding cooperation on economy, politics and people-to-people exchanges," Wang added.

Wenbin's statement comes a day after India and China "positively appraised" the smooth completion of disengagement of frontline troops in the Pangong Lake area and agreed to continue their communication and push for a mutually acceptable resolution of the remaining issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Western Sector.

The exchange took place during the 10th round of the China-India Corps Commander level meeting. The meeting was held on the Chinese side of the Moldo/Chushul border meeting point on Saturday.

The two sides had a "candid and in-depth" exchange of views on other issues along the LAC in the Western Sector, according to India-China Joint Statement.

The two countries have had a stand-off along the LAC since April-May last year due to actions of the Chinese army and have held several rounds of military and diplomatic talks.

Soon after the 73-day stand-off between Chinese and Indian troops on the Doklam plateau in 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the BRICS summit hosted by Xi. The pair subsequently met in two informal summits, showing efforts to ease bilateral tensions and build personal chemistry, according to the SCMP.

( With inputs from ANI )