Xiamen: Doklam was not brushed under the carpet at the BRICS Summit. The meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping that was initially scheduled for just half an hour, lasted for over one hour.
It's a clear indication that both the leaders were open about discussing what happened in Doklam. The last bilateral that they had was in Astana, on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which lasted only 20 minutes.
Tuesday’s meeting was substantially longer, indicating that Doklam consumed a large part of the conversation.
Both sides also acknowledged the shortcomings in the Sino-India ties that led to the Doklam standoff.
Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar also said that both the leaders had agreed that there has to be greater cooperation between border and defence personnel and the need for greater confidence building measures.
Just like the last big flare up in Depsang in 2013, which lasted 21 days, led to the resultant Border Defence and Cooperation Agreement, Doklam could likely lead to a new mechanism with specific military-to-military confidence building measures.
What the exact details of this new mechanism are and at what level this will be instituted, will only be known later.
Moreover, this follows a familiar pattern in Sino-Indian ties. Just like last year, when the NSG issue flared up and both sides decided to establish a new mechanism under the Foreign Secretary and China's Executive Vice Foreign Minister, it is possible that a new mechanism could be established at the level of the DGMOs.
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