China’s president in India for summit amid Kashmir tension
MAMALLAPURAM, India — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday met with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a time of tensions over Beijing’s support for Pakistan in opposing India’s downgrading of Kashmir’s semi-autonomy and continuing restrictions on the disputed region.
Xi was greeted at the Chennai airport by Tamil Nadu state Gov. Patwarilal Purohit as a cultural group beat drums and blew horns.
India’s foreign ministry said Xi and Modi met in the seaside temple town of Mamallapuram over dinner for nearly two hours on Friday. The talks will continue Saturday.
Modi and Xi resolved to work together in facing the challenges of radicalization and terrorism besides emphasizing on expanding trade and investment, the Press Trust of India news agency cited India’s Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale as saying.
There was an acknowledgment that both India and China were
“very complex and very diverse countries” and both would work together so that radicalization and terrorism did not affect their multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious societies, Gokhale said. He did not give details.
India accuses neighboring Pakistan of arming and training insurgent groups fighting for Kashmir’s independence or its merger with Pakistan since 1989. Pakistan denies the charge.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and the two countries have fought two wars over its control since they won independence from British colonialists in 1947.
The leaders’ meeting in Wuhan, China, in April 2018 was preceded by tensions caused by a 10-week standoff between their armed forces on the Bhutan border.
Mamallapuram was decorated with arches studded with fruits and green vegetables. Hundreds of young children in traditional dress carrying posters with photographs of Xi and Modi waited for hours to greet the Chinese leader.
The town was under tight surveillance, with thousands of security personnel.