Modi-Xi informal meet in Wuhan to reset ties

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 22

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to China this week for an informal summit meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on April 27 to 28.

This first-of-its-kind meeting between the two top leaders will be held in Wuhan City in China, incidentally the home town of the current Chinese envoy to India, Lou Zhaohui. 

The formal announcement was made after Sushma Swaraj held bilateral talks with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi along sidelines of the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) Foreign Ministers' meet in Beijing on Sunday. 

"My discussion with Minister Wang Yi was to prepare for the informal meeting between our leaders. It will be an important occasion for them to exchange views on bilateral and international matters with objective of enhancing mutual communication at level of leaders," Swaraj said. 

Wang stressed that the informal summit would add a new milestone in Sino-Indian relations. "We see socialism with Chinese characteristics entering a new era and India acts as a crucial stage in its development and revitalisation. It is against this backdrop that President Xi and Prime Minister Modi have decided to hold the informal summit," said Wang. 

First reported by The Tribune in January this year about preparations under way for this informal meeting, Modi's visit comes ahead of the SCO summit to be held in Qingdao in China in June. India and Pakistan became full members of the SCO last year. 

According to sources, this diplomatic initiative was first proposed at the BRICS summit in Xiamen last September. Modi could attend the BRICS summit only after Indian and Chinese militaries mutually disengaged following a 73-day tense eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation at the Doklam tri-junction with Bhutan. Diplomatic sources say the idea is to facilitate a free flowing conversation in retreat like settings on all issues, including contentious ones, between the two Asian leaders without the restraints of a formal joint statement. 

Calling this a bold step, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale's predecessor S Jaishankar who retired in January this year remarked, "They will be meeting in an informal environment. The agenda will be open. They will spend a lot of time over two days and there will be different kind of conversations, much more personal interactive." Both Jaishankar and Gokhale are considered old China hands. 

India is only the second country after the United States that President Xi, the most powerful man today in China with his thoughts enshrined in the constitution, will hold such a conversation with. Xi has held informal meetings with US Presidents Barack Obama and Donald J Trump so far. 

Meanwhile, striking the right notes as Wang and Swaraj prepared grounds for the informal meeting, India and China agreed to work together on issues like terrorism, climate change, sustainable development and global healthcare.

"China has confirmed data sharing on Sutlej and Brahmaputra rivers in 2018. As it directly affects lives of people living there we welcome this. Also, Kailash Mansarovar Yatra will resume this year through Nathu La pass," Swaraj said.

China's veto shield to terror mastermind Masood Azhar at the Security Council and its opposition to India's membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), and Tibetan spiritual leader in-exile in India, the Dalai Lama's engagements are among major trust deficit issues in ties. But in recent overtures, India supported China's bid for Vice Chair of FATF (Financial Action Task Force), the global body mandated to combat funding of terror. 

Interestingly, delivering a special lecture at the Nehru Memorial earlier today, the Dalai Lama emphasised, "We are not seeking independence for Tibet." Tibet can benefit from China's prosperity, as long as Tibetan identity is recognised in Chinese constitution and Tibetan Autonomous Region has equal rights, the Dalai Lama added.