PM, Xi interact for 1st time since border row
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping shook hands and spoke briefly at a formal dinner for G20 leaders in Bali on Tuesday – their first face-to-face encounter in public since the start of the military standoff in Ladakh more than two years ago.
Footage from the Indonesian presidential secretariat’s official Youtube channel showed Modi seated and conversing with US secretary of state Antony Blinken when Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan stopped nearby to speak with Indonesian President Joko Widodo.
Modi was seen getting up from his seat and shaking hands with Xi, who smiled. Modi, flanked by an interpreter, then spoke to Xi for a few minutes. Both leaders, who were wearing batik shirts, were soon joined by external affairs minister S Jaishankar. Several people gathered around the two leaders and began capturing the moment with their mobile phone cameras.
There was no word from Indian officials on the encounter at Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park. There was also no readout from the Chinese side.
A person familiar with the matter said: “Prime Minister Modi and President Xi exchanged courtesies at the conclusion of the dinner.”
The Indian and Chinese leaders had avoided each other the last time they were at an in-person multilateral meeting – the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit at Samarkand in Uzbekistan during September 15-16.
People familiar with the matter said both sides had not made any effort for a formal bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. India-china relations have been at an all-time low since the start of the standoff in Ladakh sector of Line of Actual Control.