Modi, China’s Xi hail improvement in ties

LEADERS HAVE MET TWICE AFTER INFORMAL SUMMIT IN CHINESE CITY OF WUHAN IN APRIL

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping have concurred that there had been a “perceptible improvement” in bilateral ties after their Wuhan summit and both sides are optimistic that 2019 would be an even better year for India-China relations.

During their fourth meeting this year, Modi and Xi on Friday discussed joint efforts to further enhance mutual trust and friendship between the two giant neighbours during their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit here in the capital of Argentina. The two leaders have met twice after their informal summit in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late April — once at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit held in June in China’s Qingdao and the second time at the Brics summit in South Africa’s Johannesburg in July.

“Had a wonderful meeting with President Xi Jinping,” Prime Minister Modi tweeted.

“Our regular interactions have added significant strength to India-China ties,” he said.

Asserting that their Wuhan informal meeting was a milestone in the Sino-India ties, Modi told Xi that he was looking forward to hosting him for an informal summit next year. “Such initiatives are helpful in maintaining the momentum,” Modi said, adding that there “have been two review meetings — in Qingdao and in Johannesburg”.

‘Strategic guidance’

He said the ties between the two countries have made huge strides over the last one year.

The relations between the two neighbours were strained last year following a 73-day standoff in Doklam in the Sikkim sector of the border.

The chill between the two sides later improved resulting in an informal summit between Modi and Xi at Wuhan where the two leaders decided to issue “strategic guidance” to their militaries to strengthen communications to build trust and understanding, a move aimed at avoiding a Doklam-like situation in the future.

Modi said Friday’s meeting will strengthen further the partnership between the two nations.

“Today’s meeting will be important in providing a direction in terms of strengthening our relations,” he said.

Later, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told reporters that the two leaders said that there had been a perceptible improvement in bilateral relations.