China’s Xi lands in India

MAMALLAPURAM, India - Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in southern India on Friday for talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to try to halt a slide in ties over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir amid scattered anti-China protests from Tibetan groups.

China and its all-weather ally Pakistan have been angered by India’s decision two months ago to revoke the special status of the part of Kashmir it controls, which was accompanied by a crackdown on dissent.

India says it is an internal matter aimed at developing the region and there was no room for a third country to be involved, after Mr Xi said he was watching the situation closely and assured Pakistan of Chinese support.

In a move to tighten its grip on Jammu and Kashmir, parts of which are claimed by Pakistan and China, India, in early August, dropped a constitutional provision that allowed the country’s only Muslim-majority state to make its own laws.

Mr Xi arrived on Friday in the southern city of Chennai where Mr Modi was to take him on a tour of the nearby Shore Temple dating back to the seventh and eighth centuries when regional kingdoms had direct ties with Chinese provinces.