After wrapping up his two-day visit, PM Modi will leave Wuhan by afternoon.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China on President Xi Jinping's invite has been received extremely well in the Chinese media and the photographs of the two leaders'
"informal summit" in Wuhan were splashed across front pages of several newspapers in the country. The extensive reportage indicates the importance being attached to this visit by the Chinese leadership.
The
China Daily, in an opinion piece, said that the
"heart-to-heart" communication between the two leaders on Friday reflected their deepened mutual chemistry.
"The beauty of the "informal" summit is that it comes with no baggage, only expectations. It is free of the usual diplomatic frills, somewhat beyond the global media limelight," it said.
India-China ties hit a new low during the
Doklam standoff last year. Indian and Chinese troops were locked in a 73-day standoff in Doklam after the Indian side stopped the Chinese Army from building of a road in the disputed tri-junction. The face-off ended on August 28.
While admitting that "mutual suspicion is keeping the two countries from deepening cooperation and working together on regional and international issues", the China Daily added, "The border incident last summer was just one example of what mutual suspicion could lead to, reminding both sides of the disruptive potential of distrust. Yet neither Beijing nor New Delhi calls the other an enemy, which means both expect bilateral ties to improve."
Emphasising the need for such a meet, the
Global Times said, "Conflicts between China and India have kept accumulating, which exposed the fragility of Sino-Indian relations and prompted both sides to recognize that confrontation between China and India does not fit their interests."
According to President Xi, the two leaders have reached "many important consensuses" via these meetings, which have sent the world a positive signal on China-India friendship and reflected the strong will of the two emerging economies to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation and achieve common development, the Xinhua, the official press agency of the People's Republic of China, reported.
President Xi called for continuous strengthening of friendly relations between the two countries so that their friendship will continue to "flow forward like the Yangtze and Ganges rivers".
PM Modi invited President Xi to an
informal summit in India next year.People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, reported that PM Modi and President Xi shared views on the exchanges and communications between the two ancient civilizations of China and India.
"Both China and India have a glorious history and culture, and the cultures of both countries have lots of connections and the two countries should expand communication and be dedicated to the revitalization of Oriental civilization," President Xi was quoted as saying by People's Daily.
Over 20,000 Indians study in China, and 42 flights operate between the two countries each week, according to statistics from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.