"Needless Speculation": Sources On Belated PM-Xi Meet Announcement: 10 Points

The Chennai Informal Summit is the third meeting between PM Modi and Xi Jinping since PM Modi's re-election and their second informal meet since the Wuhan summit last year. The summit will take place in the ancient coastal town of Mamallapuram near Chennai. The Chinese President will arrive in Chennai on October 11 afternoon (Friday) and will leave 24 hours later.

Ahead of Xi Jinping's India visit, China said the Kashmir issue should be resolved between New Delhi and Islamabad, significantly omitting its recent references to the UN and UN Security Council resolutions. "With all countries we have some issues that we don't see eye to eye on. From our side, there are no actions that should cause concerns to Chinese side.There are some historical issues which are there," said a government official.

"Our position is very clear that matters related to the Constitution are a sovereign issues. There is no question of a discussion unless the President of China wants to understand it," government sources said hours after China made its stand on Kashmir clear.

Government sources say as far as Ladakh is concerned, India claims "a certain boundary in our maps, that's our perception and the Chinese have their perception of the boundary and those haven't changed after making Ladakh a Union Territory".

The meeting between PM Modi and Mr Xi is totally unstructured, and so, no Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signed and no joint statements will be issued, government sources said. The aim , they say, is to build contacts at the highest level and exchange views on key issues.

Asked about the optics of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to Beijing on the eve of Mr Xi's visit to India, government sources said, "It is not a matter of concern to us. Our summit is beyond a one issue summit. We don't see it as a hyphenation of any kind. If China does, we can't say."

Terrorism, including training, financing and any other support to terror groups, will be a key issue the two leaders will discuss at the summit. Trade, defence and border issues too will also be discussed. Sources say both sides are also looking at possible additional confidence-building measures for the India-China border which may be announced later when there are meetings on defence exchanges.

President Xi's programme near Chennai includes a dance performance and a dinner hosted by PM Modi on Friday. Both leaders will hold more talks on the Friday morning before Mr Xi leaves that afternoon.

The first informal summit between PM Modi and Xi Jinping took place in picturesque Chinese lake city of Wuhan in April 2018, months after a 73-day long face off between the armies of the two countries in Doklam.

Preparations for the high-profile event are on in Tamil Nadu with the police announcing traffic restrictions due to the VVIP movement. Last week, the Madras High Court gave permission to the state government to put up banners to welcome PM Modi and Xi Jinping.