Chinese President Xi Jinping is going to visit India on October 11 for an informal summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Chinese President Xi Jinping to meet PM Modi
The External Affairs Ministry in a statement on Wednesday said “Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping had their inaugural Informal Summit in Wuhan, China, on April 27-28, 2018. Now, at the invitation of the Prime Minister, the President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping will be visiting Chennai, India from October 11-12, 2019 for the 2nd Informal Summit. The Chennai Informal Summit will provide them an opportunity to continue discussions on bilateral, regional and global issues and exchange views on deepening India-China partnership.”
According to sources, no agreements, Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) or a joint communique are expected to be signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to India, since it is an informal meeting. Chinese President Xi Jinping will be accompanied by China’s Foreign Minister and Politburo members, on his visit to India. Speculations are there that there may be meetings scheduled with their counterparts S Jaishankar and Ajit Doval.
The second informal summit will be held in the seaside temple town of Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu. The informal summit is expected to focus on taking forward bilateral ties notwithstanding differences on several sticky issues.
Announcing Xi Jinping’s visit, Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong said, “Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit India from October 11th to 12th for the 2nd Informal Summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Chennai. Hope their Strategic guidance and friendship will usher China-India ties into a new chapter.”
The ties between India and China came under some strain after India announced the withdrawal of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and bifurcated the state into two Union territories.
On the issue of Article 370, the sources said: “Our position is clear; the matter is a sovereign decision. There will be no discussion from our side but if President Xi wants a better understanding, then it can be taken up.”
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