Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is sheduled to visit China later this week for a meeting with President Xi Jinping. As a precursor to the meetings scheduled on Friday and Saturday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today met her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and discussed a host of bilateral issues and pre-consultation of the summit.
EAM @SushmaSwaraj : Prime Minister of India @narendramodi will visit China on 27 & 28 April for an Informal Summit with President of China Xi Jinping in the city of Wuhan. pic.twitter.com/SUs2VSAVDO
— Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) April 22, 2018
The two nations have had been on military dead lock over a disputed portion in Tibet region claimed both by Bhutan and China. India claims the territories of Jammu And Kashmir called Aksi Chin, transferred to China by Pakistan and China claims Indian territories in Tibet region and Arunachal Pradesh.
As per Strait times ‘Mr Modi’s unannounced Wuhan trip is even more unusual in that he will visit China again in June for a summit in Qingdao of the China and Russia-led security grouping, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which India joined last year. It is almost unheard of for foreign leaders to visit China twice in such close succession. Mr Xi is also extending Mr Modi the rare honour of a meeting outside of Beijing, which almost never happens unless there is a multilateral summit taking place’.
According to news reports, this diplomatic initiative was first proposed at the BRICS summit in Xiamen last September. The idea is to facilitate a free flowing conversation in retreat like settings on all issues, including contentious ones, between the two Asian leaders without the restraints of a formal joint statement.
China’s ambitious Belt and Road initiative of transport and energy links bypasses India, apart from a corner of the disputed Kashmir region, also claimed by Pakistan, but involves India’s neighbours Sri Lanka, Nepal and the Maldives. Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who lives in India and who China considers a dangerous separatist, is also facing the cold shoulder.
In March, India issued an unprecedented ban on Tibetans holding a rally with the Dalai Lama in New Delhi to mark the 60th anniversary of the start of the failed uprising against Chinese rule.
