Xi, Modi set the tone to improve ties

Leaders agree on positive, inclusive and open dealings between countries

President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to handle their two countries’ disagreements during their justconcluded informal meeting in Wuhan, said a senior diplomat.

Vice-Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou said on Saturday that the purpose of their meeting on Friday and Saturday was not to address specific problems, but to enhance strategic communication between China and India.

During the meeting, the two leaders engaged in several activities, including visiting the Hubei Provincial Museum and taking a lakeside walk.

Of the 12 meetings Xi and Modi have had, this was the only informal one, Kong told reporters.

During the talks, Xi and Modi did not avoid mentioning disagreements, but they did not negotiate them. Instead, they talked about such issues candidly, setting the tone for the two sides to address these issues, Kong said.

To enhance strategic trust between China and India, Xi elaborated China’s stance on the questions of how to see each other’s proximity, development and intentions, Kong said in answer to a question from China Daily.

Xi emphasized that the two sides should remain positive, open and inclusive in their manner of treating each other and avoid suspicions and misjudgment, Kong said, adding that Modi agreed with the proposal.

Xi and Modi did not mention the confrontation between Chinese and Indian troops in the Donglang area of the Tibet autonomous region last year, Kong said.

“President Xi has stressed that the problems between China and India are limited and temporary, but the cooperation is overall and longterm,” he said.

The two sides will speed up their work to implement the important consensuses the two leaders reached, he said.

Kong mentioned that Modi is scheduled to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Qingdao, Shandong province, in June, and he said that the informal meeting in Wuhan took place because of “the strong desire of both sides”.

Xi and Modi agreed in their talks to establish a high-level mechanism to boost people-to-people exchanges, Kong said.

China and India, with a combined population of 2.6 billion, had only 1 million people-to-people exchanges annually, far fewer than China’s exchanges with other neighboring countries, such as Japan, Thailand and the Republic of Korea, he said.

Xi and Modi’s informal meeting reflected the great importance the two leaders attach to China-India relations and was in effect an “upgraded version of highlevel interaction”, Kong said.

Xu Liang, director of the India Research Center at Beijing International Studies University, said that through their informal meeting the two leaders could openly discuss more topics.

President Xi has stressed that the problems between China and India are limited and temporary, but the cooperation is overall and longterm.”

Kong Xuanyou, vice-minister of foreign affairs

Informal meetings are always the prelude to formal visits, he said, adding that the easy atmosphere of informal talks is conducive to reaching more areas of consensus.

Calling the Xi-Modi meeting “one of the most significant events in the region this year”, Mushtaq Rahim, an Afghan analyst and founding member of the Afghanistan Diplomacy Studies Organization think tank in Kabul, said the meeting not only has direct significance for Beijing and New Delhi, but also paves the way for broader regional economic and security cooperation.

Rahim said the improvement of relations between China and India can help countries in the region build consensus and create more opportunities for economic cooperation.