In the days immediately after the standoff began, Indian officials in New Delhi seemed to be at a loss to explain the reason behind the Chinese action. It after all came just days after Prime Minister Modi met Chinese President Xi at Astana in Kazakhstan where they had reached a consensus on two key points—“that at a time of global uncertainty, India-China relations are a factor of stability, and in their relationship, India and China must not allow differences to become disputes”, as revealed by Indian foreign secretary S. Jaishankar.