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Smita Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 22
In a first-of-its-kind meeting between the top leaders of India and China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping will meet in Wuhan, a city in central China and the hometown of Chinese envoy to India Lou Zhaohui, on April 27-28.
A formal announcement was made after Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj held bilateral talks with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the 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,” said Swaraj.
Wang stressed that the informal summit would add a new milestone in Sino-India 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 about preparations underway for this informal meeting, PM Modi’s visit comes ahead of the SCO Summit in China’s Qingdao 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. PM Modi could attend the 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 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 US 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, global healthcare, etc.
“China has confirmed data-sharing on the Sutlej and Brahmaputra 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,” said Swaraj.
China’s veto shield to terror mastermind Masood Azhar at the United Nations 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 on Sunday, 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.
Yatra via Nathu La, river data-sharing back
China has agreed to resume sharing of hydrological data of the Brahmaputra and Sutlej rivers, besides restarting the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through the Nathu La route in Sikkim.
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