BEIJING (AP) — The leaders of India and China are meeting amid tensions along their contested border and a rivalry for influence among their smaller neighbors that could determine dominance in Asia.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is due to sit down with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday in the central city of Wuhan at the start of two days of talks between the heads of the world's two most populous nations. The countries fought a border war in 1962 and last year engaged in a 10-week standoff in the neighboring state of Bhutan.

Modi hopes China can help drive Indian economic growth ahead of national elections, but has been reluctant to engage with Beijing's "Belt and Road" initiative linking its economies to those of Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe.