India and China are locked in a bitter border standoff in eastern Ladakh since early May that has significantly strained the bilateral ties

China was the first to report the outbreak, identified the pathogen and shared the genome sequence with the world, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson

Jaishankar and Motegi are also understood to have discussed preparations for the annual India-Japan summit which is likely to take place by end of this year

Pompeo on Tuesday visited Japan and called for deeper cooperation with Australia, India and Japan to counter China's growing regional influence

The East Asia visit, Pompeo's first in more than a year, coincides with worsening tensions with China

Motegi met Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar a day after four-way Quad talks among the foreign ministers of Australia, India, Japan and the United States

While Pompeo and Jaishankar talk over the phone at frequent intervals, this is their first meeting after the recent border incursions by China in India

The Quad is an informal grouping of likeminded partners formed to deepen cooperation on sub-regional issues and shape a more closely-aligned Indo-Pacific region

That is 30 days after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo notified the council that Iran was in significant non-performance with its obligations under the accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA

The renewed push to step-up development of the remote and impoverished southwestern region signals Beijing's intent to bolster frontier security amid heightened border tensions with India in recent months

The construction plans include completion of the challenging middle section of a high-elevation Sichuan-Tibet railway link, a railway line between Nepal and Tibet that has remained in the planning stages, and a newly planned dry port in the Tibet Autonomous Region

Xi's remarks come as China faces increasing political and economic pressure from the US, tension along its border with India and push-back from European countries and Southeast Asian nations over its economic and territorial ambitions

The closer monitoring of the Chinese Association for International Understanding (CAIFU) comes at a time when India and China are locked in their most serious border dispute in more than half a century

In one of the most harshly worded attacks on China from an American official in decades, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on July 23 that China's military, the People's Liberation Army (PLA), was not a normal fighting force

The US is intensifying pressure on China, piling on visa bans, sanctions and other restrictions that are battering the already unsettled ties between the world's two largest economies

 Several other prominent US leaders and organisations also condoled Mukherjee's death, saying he will go down in history among India's most distinguished statesmen and scholars

President Trump on Sunday night telephoned Abe during which the two leaders spoke at length and reflected on the last four years

Trump presided over a rare naturalisation ceremony at the White House where five immigrants, including a software developer from India, were sworn in as American citizens, as the US leader welcomed them to the \"magnificent nation\"

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the United States has provided ample time for affected companies and persons primarily Huawei customers to identify and shift to other sources of equipment, software, and technology and wind-down their operations

Over the years, the Indo-US ties have grown into comprehensive global strategic partnership, involving ever closer cooperation on issues vital to global security and prosperity in the 21st century