March 18, 2025 (EIRNS)—At her press conference on March 17, China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning wholeheartedly welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comments that China-India relations are improving, such that “our relationship should remain just as strong in the future.” Mao compared amusingly and accurately that the relationship as “a cooperative pas de deux of the dragon and the elephant is the only right choice for both sides.” A pas de deux is a ballet duet.
Modi appeared for three hours on the Lex Fridman podcast March 17, only the second podcast Modi has participated in since he became Prime Minister in 2014. In June 2020, Indian and Chinese troops engaged in a brawl at the border in the remote Galwan River valley, in the Himalayan Mountains, which left 20 Indian soldiers and some Chinese soldiers dead, and damaged relations. Modi, who spoke in Hindi, told Fridman of India and China’s ties: “Look, the relationship between India and China isn’t something new. Both nations have ancient cultures and civilizations. Even in the modern world, they play a significant role…..
“Our relationship should remain just as strong in the future. It should continue to grow. Of course, differences are natural. When two neighboring countries exist, occasional disagreements are bound to happen. Even within a family, not everything is always perfect. But our focus is to ensure that these differences don’t turn into disputes.…
“It is true that there have been ongoing border disputes between us. And in 2020, the incidents along the border created significant tensions between our two countries. However, after my recent meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping [on October 23, 2024, on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia], we have seen a return to normalcy at the border. We are now working to restore conditions to how they were before 2020.”
