Modi-xi meet to take Wuhan forward
QINGDAO: A year after Indian and Chinese soldiers were locked in a standoff at Doklam that sent bilateral ties into the worst chill in decades, the Sino-india relationship seems to be on the upswing. Top leaders from the two sides have met at multilateral and bilateral summits, high-level exchanges have resumed and concerted efforts are underway to strengthen ties and enhance the trust factor.
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping prepare to meet – for the second time in China in about 40 days, and the third time here in nine months - on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in the coastal city of Qingdao on Saturday evening, it’s almost seems like a routine affair. India became a full member of SCO last year and is participating in the summit in that capacity for the first time.
The meeting between Modi and Xi on the summit’s sidelines assumes importance as it will give the leaders an opportunity to make a quick assessment of progress made on the consensus they achieved during their informal summit in Wuhan in April.
“The Wuhan summit was a great confidence builder and an opportunity for the leaders to anlayse the state of the relationship and how to take it forward. When they meet on Saturday,” said an Indian official.
“Of course there are some differences between us. But we will also work on the differences to ensure that the two countries continue to progress and prosper together. We are not going to be away from each other...we are going to do this together,” Indian envoy Gautam Bambawale said in an interview to China’s staterun media ahead of the SCO Summit on June 9 and 10.
Taking the Wuhan consensus forward, the two sides can start work on projects or in sectors in which they have common interests, said leading South Asian scholar, Lu Yang, from Tsinghua University.