Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday.

An Indian readout said the two leaders exchanged views on the situation on the India-China border, along with the state of the pandemic in both countries and the need for reforms in the World Health Organisation.

The conversation comes six days after Trump claimed that he had informed both Beijing and New Delhi of Washington’s willingness to mediate on the border dispute. The President followed this up a couple of days later with a claim that he had spoken to Modi about China, which was promptly denied by government sources who insisted that the two had not spoken since April 4.

According to the Indian readout, Modi appreciated Trump’s decision to expand the G7 grouping of advanced economies to include Russia, India, Australia and South Korea.

The Prime Minister described it as a “creative and far-sighted approach”, adding that India would be happy to work with the US and other countries to ensure the success of the summit that was scheduled to be hosted by Trump at Camp David this month but has been deferred because of the pandemic.

Russia bats for China on Trump’s G7 plan

Russia has said that the idea of an expanded G7 summit is in general a step in the right direction, but the proposal made by Trump is not truly representative.

“For instance, it is obvious that it is hardly possible to implement serious global initiatives without China,” Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in Moscow.