Modi-Xi meet sets tone for 3rd informal summit
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday morning met Chinese President Xi Jinping in a crucial bilateral meeting in Brazil in which the two leaders reiterated the importance of maintaining peace and security in the border areas and also discussed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which India recently refused to join.
After the Chinese President told PM Modi how he fondly recalled the warm welcome given to him at Chennai last month for the second informal summit between the two leaders at Mamallapuram near the southern metropolis, he invited PM Modi for the third edition of the informal summit in China in 2020 for which “the date and venue for which will be determined through diplomatic channels.”
The meeting between the two leaders is the first since the fresh war of words between the two countries on October 31 after India bifurcated J&K into the two union territories.
In a statement, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, on the sidelines of the 11th Brics summit at Brasilia.
The leaders noted that the special representatives will have another meeting on matters relating to the boundary question and reiterated the importance of maintaining peace and security in the border areas.
The leaders also exchanged views on multilateral issues, including WTO, Brics and RCEP. They agreed on the importance of maintaining dialogue on matters relating to trade and investment.”
The MEA further said, “President Xi thanked PM for India’s substantial participation in the just concluded China Import Export Expo in Shanghai. The two leaders agreed that the new high-level mechanism on trade and economy should meet at an early date.
The leaders reviewed preparations for celebrating the 70th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries next year.
They agreed that this will enhance people-topeople relations.”
It may be recalled that just two weeks ago, the two Asian giants had been involved in a fresh war of words, with Beijing calling the creation of two new union territories (of J&K and Ladakh) as “unlawful and void” after which New Delhi swiftly hit back to remind China that it (China) has “illegally occupied” large tracts of land belonging to (the now erstwhile) J&K state.