Modi and Xi to meet in China on April 27-28
Wang says the summit will go a long way towards deepening the mutual trust between the two great neighbours
BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet in central China this week, Beijing announced on Sunday, as the Asian powers work to improve strained ties.
The two leaders will hold an “informal summit” in the city of Wuhan on Friday and Saturday, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said after talks with his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj.
“The summit will go a long way towards deepening the mutual trust between the two great neighbours,” Wang said.
Xi and Modi “will set a general direction, identify new goals and create a new dynamic for the growth of China-india relations.
“This will benefit not just our two countries and peoples, but will also have an important and positive impact on peace and development in our region and the world at large,” he said.
Swaraj and Wang met in Beijing before a meeting this week of foreign ministers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a regional security grouping spearheaded by China and Russia.
China will host an SCO summit in June. India and its arch-rival Pakistan formally joined the bloc last year and Modi is expected to attend the summit, according to Indian media.
This week’s meeting between Xi and Modi comes months after the two countries resolved a tense border standoff.
Indian and Chinese troops faced off last June on the Doklam plateau, an area high in the Himalayas.
The dispute began when Chinese troops started building a road on the plateau and India deployed troops to stop the project.
A crisis was averted in August when the two nuclear-armed nations pulled back their troops.
India and China have a long history of mistrust as they jostle for regional supremacy.
Xi and Modi “will set a general direction, identify new goals and create a new dynamic for the growth of Chinaindia relations”