In an attempt to ameliorate the ties between the two countries Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, held the two-day informal summit in the central Chinese city of Wuhan during which both the leaders tried to work out a new criterion for the bilateral ties bogged down with a host of disputes and differences. This comes as a historic transmutation considering the strained relationship the countries shared especially after the 73-day-long Doklam standoff last year.
In a pre-departure statement, Prime Minister Modi said he and President Xi will review the developments in Sino-Indian relations from a strategic and long-term perspective.
“President Xi and I will exchange views on a range of issues of bilateral and global importance. We will discuss our respective visions and priorities for national development, particularly in the context of current and future international situation,” Modi said. The summit is being seen as an effort by India and China to rebuild trust and improve ties.
After their first informal meeting at the Sabarmati Ashram of Mahatma Gandhi in Gujarat in 2014, the famous East Lake in the central Chinese city of Wuhan was where the two leaders spent most of the time. This is where officials said, the two leaders spent most of time interacting with each other with one-on-one conversations focussing on global, regional and bilateral issues.
Confirming the importance of the event, the Chinese state media has been giving a lot of prominence to Modi-Xi summit by featuring the news and development prominently in their outlets. The front pages and home pages of state controlled media reflected this.
Global Times, an English-language Chinese newspaper with focus on international affairs, featured Modi-Xi news prominently on their home page:
The Modi-Xi meeting made top headlines in People’s Daily too, which is the official newspaper of the Chinese communist party, ahead of the news about North and South Korea ending their hostilities:
The front page of Xinhua News Agency, the official press agency of the People’s Republic of China also featured the news prominently, mentioning that Xi expects meeting with Modi to open new chapter in China India ties.
Time will show us how much of this prolonged effort extended from our PM’s side helps India on the ground but both sides have indicated that the meeting is aimed at giving an “honest try” by the two leaders to work out an understanding at the top on the future course of relations.
