NSA Ajit Doval Meets China's Xi Jinping Amid Doklam Standoff

Beijing: National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other top security czars of the BRICS nations on Friday called on Chinese President Xi Jinping, who praised their efforts in enhancing mutual trust and cooperation despite the vast geographical distance among the member nations.

The meeting comes amid a standoff between China and India in Doklam area in the Sikkim sector. After day-long deliberations over improving cooperation in a number of areas, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) NSAs met Xi and interacted with him.

Xi, in his address to the BRICS NSAs, praised them for building a mutual trust and cooperation among the member nations. However, there were no handshakes in front of the media between Chinese officials and the BRICS NSAs.

"Every minister has done a great job for improving our mutual trust and security cooperation. I sincerely thank for all your efforts," Xi who is heading the BRICS group this year said about the deliberations by the NSAs on host of security related issues.

"I think the meeting was carried out well. In order to promote the strategic mutual trust of the BRICS countries, security cooperation, all of you have made a lot of effort," he said.

The BRICS cooperation has 10 years of history and the five-member group of emerging countries have carried on meaningful cooperation despite geographical distance and different political systems establishing a new type of international relations, the Chinese President said.

While the starting point of BRICS cooperation is in the economic and financial field in its first decade, in view of the complex international political and economic security situation, the member countries should expand cooperation with more people-to-people contacts, cultural exchanges and coordinate on security issues, he said.

The BRICS NSAs meeting focussed on global governance, counter-terrorism, cyber security and energy security, international and regional hotspots, and national security and development.

China on Thursday had acknowledged that Doval and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi met on the sidelines of the BRICS NSAs meet during which they discussed "major problems" in bilateral ties. However, China made no mention of the Doklam standoff.

Since the standoff began on June 16, China has been maintaining that there will not be a meaningful dialogue without the unconditional withdrawal of Indian troops.