Modi, Xi spend ‘quality time’, discuss trade, terror on Day 1

INFORMAL SUMMIT In ‘open and cordial’ discussions at seaside town, leaders share national visions

The private dinner between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping that capped the first day of the India-China informal summit on Friday lasted more than double the scheduled duration, an indication that both sides were making efforts to work out differences that have recently strained ties.

Modi welcomed Xi after he drove in a motorcade to this seaside resort at about 5pm and took the Chinese leader around several monuments at a 1,400year-old temple complex.

They watched a cultural programme before going into the dinner at the Shore Temple complex.

The dinner, which began at 7pm, was expected to last about an hour but ended well past 9:30pm, suggesting that the two leaders held substantive discussions despite the strain in the bilateral relationship because of China’s strong support to Pakistan on the Kashmir issue over the past few weeks.

Briefing the media after the two leaders concluded their discussions, foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said: “Discussions were very open and cordial. The two leaders had detailed discussions on their respective national visions.”

“President Xi Jinping, while acknowledging that the Prime Minister had got a [big] mandate, said he was looking forward to working very closely with the Prime Minister on all issues,” he said.

“They held discussions on trade-related issues… on how to enhance trade volume and trade value. This included the issue of trade deficit that exists,” he added.

Even before the dinner, Modi and Xi had a conversation, with only their translators present, at the Pancha Ratha, a monument with five chariots hewn out of solid rock, that lasted almost 15 minutes. They continued their conversation as they strolled near the Shore Temple, the last of the monuments they visited at Mamallapuram.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted late on Friday that the leaders had a “highly productive day” that concluded with a “pleasant conversation over a long dinner”.

Modi and Xi “continued their exchange of views on deepening the India-China partnership” during the cultural performance and the dinner, he said. Kumar said in an earlier tweet that the “free flowing nature of the Informal Summit at the UNESCO World Heritage site will continue and deepen contacts at the highest level and guide the future trajectory of (the) India-China relationship”.

Gokhale said the two leaders discussed the issue of radicalisation.