New Delhi:
With five days remaining, China has given no official word on President Xi Jinping’s informal summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Chennai on October 11-12. The next 24 to 48 hours are key to the announcement of the visit, sources said. The meeting marks the completion of 70 years of diplomatic relations between India and China.
Earlier, confirming Xi’s visit to India foreign secretary Vijay Keshav Gokhale had said, "PM Modi invited Xi (to India) for the next informal summit. Xi confirmed his readiness to visit India this year and that both sides should begin preparations".
On Sunday, China’s Ambassador to India Sun Weidong tweeted, “Since Wuhan Informal Summit, the relations have witnessed steady progress. Glad to see our leaders’ consensus… transformed into cooperation. Hope more impetus for our friendship.”
Weidong’s tweet came a day after Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing had said, Beijing would stand by Pakistan on the resolution of the Kashmir dispute. “We are also working for Kashmiris to help them get their fundamental rights and justice. There should be a justified solution to the issue of Kashmir and China will stand by Pakistan for regional peace and stability,” he said, according to Pakistani daily The Express Tribune.
In June this year, PM Modi and Jinping met on the sidelines of SCO Summit is Bishkek. Calling his meeting with Jinping ‘extremely fruitful’ PM Modi had said, ‘We shall continue working together to improve economic and cultural ties between our nations.’ Xi reciprocated Modi’s gesture as he said, “China is ready to work with India to continuously advance the closer development partnership between the two countries.”
Moreover, China has for long been derailing India’s efforts to become a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group which widened the rift between both the countries. India, on the other hand, has been apprehensive of China’s Belt and Road initiative. These can be the major areas of discussion when both leaders hold talks later this year. The first informal summit in Wuhan provided the breakthrough in Sino-India relations after standoff in Doklam.
