BRICS a chance for Modi, Xi to thaw Doklam chill

XIAMEN: A meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at the BRICS Summit could provide temporary relief from the chill in China-India ties due to the twomonth military standoff in Doklam that ended this week.

The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) forum is an opportunity for the leaders of India and China to smoothen new wrinkles that have appeared in ties already marred by a festering border dispute and lack of mutual trust.

How to take ties forward postDoklam and prevent similar face-offs in the future are likely to be touched upon when Modi meets Xi on the sidelines of the summit. Rebuilding ties immediately will, for course, be tough given the heat generated by the standoff.

But Modi, who is reaching Xiamen on Sunday, and Xi have the chance to set it on the right path, Chinese experts told HT.

“Post-Doklam China-India relations are in a low point that we haven’t experienced in recent one or two decades. Now what we need to do immediately is to rebuild the trust between the two countries – between the two leaderships and among the two people as well. In that sense, BRICS summit offers a much-needed opportunity,” said Guo Suiyan, deputy director and South Asia expert with the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences.

The standoff “inevitably hurt the bilateral relations and left one more open scar which is very deep...” Guo added.

There is little doubt that the military impasse – and the fear of escalation it had triggered – is as fresh as the footprints left by border troops in Doklam.

“It should be said that during the standoff, China showed great restraint and patience. India’s withdrawing builds a friendly and harmonious atmosphere for Modi's visit,” Hu Zhiyong from the Institute of International Relations of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences said.

“Seeking common ground while putting aside differences, and developing together” are the broad parameters that the two leaders could discuss, Hu said.

“To be realistic, I think we shouldn’t expect China-India relations to be back to the high point like pre-2014 period. From the Xi-Modi meet during the BRICS summit – if they meet – we shouldn’t expect anything concrete coming out from this meeting, but the two leaders need to tell the world that this incident has politically ended,” Guo said.