Beijing said on Friday it was “ready to work with India … by strengthening communication, enhancing cooperation, and properly handling differences”.

The underlying territorial dispute remains unresolved, and both sides retain heavy military deployments along their roughly 3,500km high-altitude border along Tibet.

“SUBSTANTIAL HARVEST”

Xi is due to hold face-to-face talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi later on Saturday, according to New Delhi’s foreign ministry.

“They are looking for ‘early and substantial harvest’ when it comes to the border issue,” said Pradeep Taneja, a China-India expert at the University of Melbourne.

“You cannot have a buildup of your forces on the border … but at the same time say ‘we should continue to have people-to-people relations and economic relationships.'”

Deep mistrust remains, with their contested Himalayan frontier, a widening trade deficit and strategic rivalry still complicating ties.