Indian PM Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping are up for a second edition of the informal summit, which is to be held on October 11-12, 2019 in Mamallapuram, near Chennai, India. It was during the sideline meet during the Shanghai Cooperation organization summit that PM Modi invited President Xi for a bilateral informal summit, emphasizing that dialogue with Pakistan might not be possible at that stage. Modi Conveyed to Xi that more improvement to the ties between the two was possible as they were able to solve different long pending issues like opening of bank of China branch in India and UN listing of Pakistan-based terrorist Mazood Azhar.
The two leaders will be discussing on both global and regional topics which will mainly include the next steps in boundary dispute resolution by mostly launching a LAC , (Line of Actual Control) clarification process and also the methods for reducing India’s trade deficit by exporting additional products to China.
Progress over BCIM corridor could also be a topic of discussion in the summit as this is outside the BRI ( China’s mega belt and road initiative) connectivity link. BCIM plans/desires Yo connect the Kunming region to Myanmar, India and Bangladesh.
Main agenda’s of Modi-Xi Summit will be counterterror cooperation, US-China trade war and its impact on bilateral economic partnership and geo-economics, trade protectionism and third country cooperation, future of WTO and indo-pacific construct.
PM Narendra Modi, will make sure to assure President Xi that Union Territory (UT) status of Ladakh will not have adverse effect/impact on LAC, as China seems to be worried over the granted UT status of Ladakh. PM will also seek better understanding from Xi on concerns over CPEC and Pakistan’s support of terrorism against India.
China on Wednesday, 9th Oct, had published a highly positive note on the upcoming summit in which it was mentioned that the meeting would pave way to bilateral ties and also generate a shared role for both countries in the regional affairs, creating a positive atmosphere for the dragon and elephant to work together.
The first informal summit between PM Modi and President Xi was held in the Chinese Wuhan city, in April 2018. The meeting had helped the two countries enormously in normalizing their relations on all fronts, after the 73 day stand off between militaries of the two, in Doklam 2017. Following the request of Indian PM during the same, China has been importing rice and sugar from India till date. The trade, however, is clearly tilted in favour of China.
Luo Zhaohui, Vice Foreign Minister of China, said that, there was a good personal chemistry between PM Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping, without which such informal meetings will not be possible. He also added that, the strong chemistry was also seen during the Wuhan Summit.
Wuhan Summit also gave rise to the India-China plus formulae to develop the third party neighboring countries and agreements were made on training Afghan diplomats. Minister Luo said that China hopes to not restrict the cooperation to just Afghanistan, but to extend it to Nepal, Bhutan and more.
The informal meeting would provide free, relaxed and comfortable atmosphere for both leaders to exchange their views. With the summit planned to be held in India, President Xi’s visit to India will clear the way to further growth in bilateral ties and also lead to new progress and Positive fruitful outcomes in exchange of ideas and cooperation between the two sides. The summit will send a strong message of India and China to the whole world and will also bring in more stability and positive vibes to this world filled with uncertainty.
Prepared by: Yadu Krishna
