PM Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping exchange pleasantries, no word on meeting with Justin Trudeau

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 15

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday exchanged pleasantries with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali. This was the first time the two leaders acknowledged each other since the 2020 Galwan Valley clash that soured Sino-Indian ties.

India beacon of hope: PM to diaspora

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi told a gathering of the Indian diaspora in Bali that India was a beacon of hope for the world in the 21st century
• “There is a huge difference between the pre-2014 and post-2014 India, and that is not Modi. Today, India is working at an unprecedented speed and scale,” he said
• The PM pointed out that the country held the top spot in digital transactions, global fintech and IT outsourcing
• He said that “we also proudly remember the Ramayana tradition of Indonesia”. TNS

PM Modi and Xi came across each other at the G20 gala dinner hosted by Indonesian President Joko Widodo. A short video showed Xi approaching the dining table where PM Modi was sitting with his back towards the Chinese leader. The PM got up, turned around and responded to Xi’s outstretched hand with a firm handshake. “They exchanged pleasantries at the conclusion of the dinner,” confirmed sources.

PM Modi also met French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak briefly. There was, however, no word on the much-anticipated meeting with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau after the initial spadework was done during a meeting between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Canadian counterpart, Melanie Joly, at the recent East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh.

While the special G20 sessions took up most of the day, PM Modi has at least eight structured meetings lined up for Wednesday, including the ones with Macron and Sunak.

The PM will have his first structured bilateral after returning from a mangrove forest with Indonesian President Widodo followed by meetings with leaders of Spain, France, Singapore, Germany, Italy, Australia and the UK, according to the Ministry of External Affairs. However, a meeting with Trudeau, which was expected to take place, has not been mentioned.

Ties with Ottawa had recently nosedived in the wake of Sikh radical activities, including the much-publicised referendums that called for the creation of Khalistan. While Canada has publicly maintained that it stands for territorial integrity and sovereignty of India, the radical movement is being promoted by dubious Canadian Sikhs with links to Pakistani deep state.

Before meeting Jaishankar in Cambodia, Joly had made all the right noises about improving ties with India, especially in the economic sphere and alternative global supply chains.

“As India becomes the most populous country in the world, its leadership and influence will only continue to grow, both regionally and globally, and so will the opportunities for Canada, especially for Canadian businesses,” she had said recently in Toronto.

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