India - China: Probable Modi, Xi Meeting
STORIES, ANALYSES, EXPERT VIEWS
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping may be meeting for the first time after three years. While this meeting could come as early as mid-September, with both leaders currently expected to be present at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan, the G20 meet in mid-November in Indonesia, where both have confirmed their attendance, offers another possibility.
A meeting does, however, come with risks for New Delhi, write Suhasini Haider (Diplomatic Editor, The Hindu) and Ananth Krishnan (Hong Kong-based China correspondent of The Hindu) “which has viewed warily China’s recent attempts to portray ties as ‘normal’ despite the situation at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), a perception that a high-level meet may reinforce. New Delhi reluctantly hosted Foreign Minister Wang Yi in March as he visited the region, but conveyed a strong message that India would not accept China’s demand to keep the border ‘in an appropriate place’ and restore relations.”
The last meeting between the two leaders, reflected a period in the relationship that most in New Delhi now believe there is no returning to.
India - China: Routine Military Talks In Eastern Ladakh
Military officials of India and China held talks in eastern Ladakh on August 31, focusing on maintaining security and stability in the region. Corps commanders of the two militaries have held 16 rounds of talks to resolve the standoff with little progress.
People familiar with the development said it was routine dialogue at the level of major general and such talks take place on a monthly basis.
There was no official word on the talks.
The Indian and Chinese Armies are engaged in the standoff at the friction points for more than two years.
India has been consistently maintaining that peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are key for the overall development of the bilateral ties.
Strong messaging by India
Significantly, Thursday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) backed the German Ambassador to India’s comments calling China's claims on Arunachal Pradesh as "outrageous" and its transgressions at the LAC a "violation of international law".
And Minister Jaishankar, in a speech in New Delhi on August 29, repeated for the third time in recent weeks India’s stand that normalcy in ties was predicated on normalcy on the border, a position he expressed last month during visits to Australia and Brazil, saying it was not “a conditionality we are imposing” but “stating the facts” on past agreements between the two sides. China’s military, for its part, last week cited those same agreements, which India has accused China of violating, to oppose upcoming India-U.S. high altitude military exercises, calling them “meddling”.
Jaishankar also indicated that differences went beyond the border, and pushed back against Xi’s earlier call for an “Asia for Asians”, describing it as “a sentiment that was encouraged in the past, even in our own country, by political romanticism”. He also cautioned, when speaking of an “Asian century”, against “overtones of triumphalism with which India at least should not be comfortable”.
