PM Modi, Xi plan to share vision in a bid to mend ties

New Delhi: The forthcoming informal summit in the Chinese city of Wuhan on April 27 and 28 between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping was planned with the objective of “strategic communication” between the two countries at the top leadership level, sources said on Tuesday. “Specific” issues, however, will not be discussed at the meeting and there will be no joint statement or communiqué at the end of the discussions. There will be “no issue-based discussions nor any resolution of individual problems” between the two countries, the sources made it clear. They added that the objective was to have a “communication at the highest level” for the “perspective” that each leader has of the other’s domestic and international policies and to understand each other’s “vision”. The vision that each leader will outline to the other will be of their respective “domestic policies... and how it affects the external environment”.

It was decided by the two countries that the two leaders would meet informally ahead of a formal meeting of the multilateral Shanghai Cooperation Organis-ation (SCO) in the Chinese city of Qingdao in June, where several other heads of state and government are also expected to be present. An informal summit —where the two leaders will hold informal discussions, with their interpreters the only other persons present — was decided upon instead of a regular formal summit, which would have had a very “structured” format, with delegations accompanying the leaders. This informal summit comes at a time when the two giant neighbours are trying to put their ties back on track after the bitterness of the Sino-Indian military standoff last year at Doklam in Bhutanese territory.

This will be the first time that the Chinese side is holding such an informal summit in their country between the Chinese President and another world leader. It is also possible there could be more such meetings in the future, the sources indicated. The informal summit will also be a signal to other countries that India and China can dire-ctly engage with each other as and when the need arises.

While the discussions betw-een the two leaders may “mitigate” differences in the way they look at issues, both countries are expected to stick to their views on various issues.

It was initially speculated whether the Nirav Modi, NSG and Azhar Masood issues would be discussed between the two leaders, but it seems clear now this will not be the case as specific issues will not be raised during the discussions. Observers see the informal summit as the most serious initiative between the two countries to repair ties since the Doklam faceoff last year, which had badly damaged ties between the two neighbours.