‘Satisfied’ Team Modi leaves China, with differences
XIAMEN : Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his entourage of India’s top diplomats took off from a sunny Xiamen on Tuesday afternoon a fairly satisfied lot after the BRICS summit.
The Doklam impasse was over, with New Delhi managing to emerge from it, if not a winner, at least on equal terms despite withdrawing troops; Pakistanbased terror groups were mentioned in the BRICS statement under China’s current chair and on Chinese soil, proving to be vindication of India’s stand against terrorism; and its pitch for FDI and global governance reforms was heard.
Earlier in the day, foreign secretary S Jaishankar did not mention Doklam during his 10-minute interaction with international media on the bilateral meeting between Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The closest he went was to mention “situation” – twice.
Nor did the ministry of foreign affairs (MFA) spokesperson, Geng Shuang, mention it when he took questions at the regular press briefing in Beijing.
Both mentioned the need to have a peaceful border.
The responses were clearly coordinated to send a message – New Delhi and Beijing were trying hard to move forward, leaving behind the military impasse which had threatened to hijack the diplomatic ties.
BUT DIFFERENCES EXIST
One needs to simply scratch the surface of the BRICS bonhomie to find that China’s indignation over Doklam is quite raw.
Official news agency Xinhua’s report on the Modi-Xi meeting – their 9th one-on-one – made it a point to mention the impasse.
If the Chinese government had so wanted – and had it been indifferent to the fact that Doklam resolution is being projected as India’s diplomatic success — it would have instructed Xinhua not to bring it up at all.
Indignation over Doklam aside, China also surprised many with endorsing the BRICS statement with names of terror groups based on the soil of its allweather strategic ally, Pakistan.
It doesn’t of course mean there’s a guarantee Beijing will let through India’s UN application to ban JeM chief, Masood Azhar. But it will also put China in a bit of spot if it does block the move next time. Chinese experts, who rarely criticise government decisions, told HT it was a “costly mistake”. Interestingly, Modi flew out of Xiamen to Myanmar where India and China are elbowing each other for influence. That’s another story.