Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met China's top diplomat and hailed the “steady progress” made in improving the countries' relationship after a yearslong standoff between the nuclear-armed powers.

India and China are aware of the “very high political, economic and military cost of frozen relations,” he says. “China felt it had pushed India too close to the U.S. while India realized that it was losing its vaunted strategic autonomy by getting too close to Washington and turning Beijing into an adversary.”

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that India-China relations had made steady progress since his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in October, guided by respect for each other's interests and sensitivities.