*BEIJING: President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi metin central China Friday as they seek to repair ties that were marred by aborder dispute last year.*

Xi greeted Modi at a Hubei province museum in the city of Wuhan for whathas been billed as an “informal summit” that will continue on Saturday.

While last year´s high-altitude standoff in the Himalayas has beenresolved, the world´s most populous countries have a long history ofmistrust.

New Delhi has also raised concerns about Beijing´s Belt and Roadinitiative, a global trade infrastructure programme that includes a majorproject through Azad Kashmir.

However, the two leaders discussed “strengthening the exchanges and mutuallearning between the two civilisations of China and India and promoting theharmonious coexistence and dialogue of different civilisations,” theofficial Xinhua news agency said on its social media account.

Following the museum tour, Modi and Xi were due to hold talks and havedinner together, according to the prime minister´s official agenda. OnSaturday, they will walk along the East Lake, ride a boat and have lunchtogether.

The summit “is New Delhi´s well-intentioned attempt to reach out to Beijingto see if the past can be put behind and if the relationship can be reset,”Harsh Pant, international relations professor at King´s College London,told AFP.

In a statement before leaving India, Modi said he would exchange views withXi on a range of bilateral and global issues.

“We will discuss our respective visions and priorities for nationaldevelopment, particularly in the context of current and futureinternational situation,” Modi said.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Tuesday that the twoleaders have “a good working relationship and personal friendship”.

They agreed that an informal summit would be conducive to having “full andin-depth exchanges on major issues of common concern in a suitableatmosphere”, Lu said.

* Disputed border*

Both nations say they are committed to solving long-standing borderdisagreements through dialogue, but progress has been glacial.

India and China went to war in 1962 over Arunachal Pradesh, with Chinesetroops temporarily capturing part of the Himalayan territory.

The dispute remains unresolved, with India considering Arunachal Pradeshone of its northeastern states while China stakes claim to about 90,000square kilometres of the area.

In February Beijing lodged an angry protest with New Delhi over a trip byModi to the state.

Last year, Indian and Chinese troops faced off on the Doklam plateau, anarea high in the Himalayas claimed both by China and by India´s ally Bhutan.

The dispute began in June when Chinese troops started building a road onthe plateau and India deployed troops to stop the project.

A crisis was averted in August when the two nuclear-armed nations pulledback.

“We have to step out of the shadows of the 1962 war,” said Wang Dehua, aSouth and Central Asia expert at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

“The meeting will focus on avoiding the unhappy events we saw in Doklamlast year,” Wang said.

Chinese defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian said Thursday that the people ofboth countries share the aspiration of maintaining peace in the borderareas.

He said Beijing was willing to enhance mutual trust “despite somedifficulties and obstacles in the bilateral military relationship”,according to the official Xinhua news agency.

Modi is expected to return to China in June for the summit of the ShanghaiCooperation Organisation, a security bloc led by Beijing and Moscow.

Indian analysts point to a pragmatic reason for Modi to want betterrelations with China: he faces national elections next year, and he wouldbe better off with stable ties with the world´s second-largest economy.

“I don´t think he would like to go into an election with the kind ofrelationship, the low point it had reached over the last year,” Pant said.

With China facing a potential tariff war with the United States, Beijingand New Delhi could find common ground on international trade, Pant said.

“It is one of the issues where India and China have worked together on theglobal stage in the past,” he said. APP/AFP