Agencies
NEW DELHI. April 27:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a two-day visit to China, has met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan, the capital of the Chinese province of Hubei. On the first day of his visit, PM Modi was welcomed by President Xi at the Hubei provincial museum. PM Modi has suggested that a similar informal summit be held in India next year. The engagements of PM Modi spread over 24 hours include a tour of the museum, a one-on-one informal talks with President Xi followed by delegation-level talks later today.
Here are the top 10 developments
- Only two interpreters were present at the first informal meeting between PM Modi and President Xi who has travelled out of Beijing for an “informal summit”.
- After a short one-on-one meeting and a tour of the museum, both leaders will move for two rounds of delegation-level talks with six representatives from each side.
- President Xi will host a dinner for PM Modi at the East Lake Guest House in central Wuhan, a favourite holiday destination of China’s revolutionary Mao Zedong.
- On Saturday, both leaders are expected to spend more time together in one-on-one talks with just interpreters accompanying them.
- PM Modi and President Xi will walk along the banks of the East Lake and take a ride on a boat together in an effort to try and cement the strong chemistry they had developed in earlier summit meetings.
- There may not be any joint statement at the end of the talks and neither side wants to be bogged down by outstanding issues which remain a thorn in equations between the two nations.
- The visit comes months after a standoff involving Indian and Chinese forces at Doklam when the two armies stood eyeball-to-eyeball for 72 days in the high altitude area claimed by Bhutan but occupied by China.
- India has concerns about its sovereignty being affected by the China Pakistan Economic Corridor that passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Beijing has also blocked India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group and has avoided declaring Hafiz Saeed a globally designated terrorist.
- “President Xi and I will exchange views on a range of issues of bilateral and global importance,” PM Modi had said before leaving for China.
- “We will also review the developments in the India-China relations from a strategic and long-term perspective,” the PM’s departure statement said.
