Modi, Xi Jinping meet on April 27-28 |
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold their first major “informal summit” in the picturesque Wuhan city of central China on April 27 and 28, marking a breakthrough in ties that were hit by a tense 73-day military standoff between Indian and Chinese militaries at Doklam. The announcement of the meeting was concrete evidence that the two leaders could be looking to impart some momentum to the relationship. The decision was made public after talks between visiting foreign minister Sushma Swaraj and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and can lead to more purposeful discussion on the bilateral relationship. Wang described the forthcoming Modi-Xi meeting as a “new starting point” in the relationship. He also referred to the importance of supporting the World Trade Organization mechanism, a hint at US President Donald Trump`s trade actions which China regards as a violation. This could possibly have aided the thaw with India. The scheduled meeting, a culmination of a series of high-level exchanges between the two countries in the past few weeks, was described by officials on both sides as a milestone in the relationship which has been beset with difficulties in the recent past on a host of issues like Beijing`s determination to block India`s NSG membership bid and diplomatic, military and economic support to Pakistan.
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