Modi & Xi to reboot strained bilateral ties
After weeks of speculation, India and China’s foreign ministers announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet President Xi Xinping in China next week to improve bilateral relations.
The two-day meet on April 27 and 28 will be an informal summit between President Xi and PM Modi during which both world leaders will try to rebuild bilateral ties bogged down by a host of disputes and differences.
“The two leaders will have communications of a strategic nature concerning the once-in-a-century shifts going on in the world. They will also exchange views on overarching long-term and strategic matters concerning the future of China-india relations,” Wang said.
China and India are “natural partners” in cooperation. “Our common interests far outweigh our differences. The two countries have no choice other than pursuing everlasting friendship, mutually beneficial cooperation and common development,” he said.
Swaraj said she discussed with Wang the preparations for the informal summit between the two leaders.
“It will be an important occasion for them to exchange views on bilateral and international matters from an over-arching and longterm perspective with the objective of enhancing mutual communication at the level of leaders,” she said.
“The meeting in Wuhan flows from the understanding reached by the two leaders last year that Indiachina relations are a factor for stability in a period of global changes, and we have a common responsibility for peace, security and prosperity in the world,” she said.
Swaraj said both leaders would also discuss their respective national developmental priorities and explore the future direction of the multifaceted engagement between India and China to strengthen their closer developmental partnership.
On bilateral ties, she said, the progress made by the two countries in the last few months has also contributed to building trust and understanding.
“We have agreed to maintain the momentum of these exchanges,” she said.
Informed sources informed that it would be an informal summit meeting between Xi and Modi during which both leaders will try to work out a new paradigm for the bilateral ties bogged down with a host of disputes and differences.
This will be fourth visit of Modi to China after he came to power in 2014. He is again due to visit China to take part in the SCO summit to be held at Qingdao city on June 9-10.