This Article is From Apr 24, 2018

No Topic, No Statement, Meet With PM Modi Is Xi Jinping's First Informal Summit In China

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi JInping want to understand each other's domestic and foreign policies without having to communicate through a formal structure

No Topic, No Statement, Meet With PM Modi Is Xi Jinping's First Informal Summit In China

PM Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping will meet in China's Wuhan on Friday and Saturday.

New Delhi: The meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese president Xi Xinping at Wuhan this weekend will be a first for Xi in China, where the focus is not on specific issues, but broad, overarching discussions on an array of subjects. Sources say both leaders wanted to have this meeting.

PM Modi and President Xi want to understand each other's domestic and foreign policies without having to communicate through a formal structure, sources said. That's why no joint statement or document is expected, and no resolution of irritants will happen at this meeting. The aim of the meeting is for both leaders to establish "strategic" communication at the highest level, sources said.

The official Chinese media has said the Wuhan summit could be as significant as the one between former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and then leader of China Deng Xiaoping, when the two countries agreed to put their quarrels behind them.

An editorial in Global Times -- attached to the ruling Communist Party of China's official publications and known for its anti-India rhetoric -- said: "Within China, hostility toward India is being replaced by hopes for friendly ties. The two countries need more communication to enhance mutual trust and eliminate the possibility of another border crisis".

Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said the differences between the two nations should not lead to disputes.

Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj, along with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, had announced the informal summit at a joint press briefing on Sunday in Beijing. Ms Swaraj is in China to attend the meeting of the foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation or the SCO.
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