BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday signaled Beijing’s intent to step up ties with India, focusing on the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor, advancing economic interaction, while “managing” differences on sensitive issues.
In its readout on the meeting between President Xi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Astana, the Chinese foreign ministry highlighted three points that emerged during the talks. The online statement quoted President Xi as saying that “substantive progress” should be promoted on the BCIM project.
Analysts say that the BCIM project has been effectively stalled, following Beijing’s active promotion of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which India says infringes its sovereignty, as it passes through Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK).
President Xi also highlighted that the two countries should “appropriately” manage their differences. “[China and India] should strengthen multilateral communication and consultation, and appropriately control and manage differences and sensitive issues”.
While the Chinese side focused on a quick de-escalation of diplomatic tensions, Prime Minister Modi, according to the statement, said that New Delhi and Beijing should respect each other’s “core interests’ and appropriately manage differences.
Indian officials in the past have said that the infringement of India’s sovereignty in Kashmir, concerns regarding terrorism, highlighted by China’s reluctance to designate Masood Azhar as an international terrorist and Beijing’s stalling of India’s membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group, were undermining New Delhi’s “core” concerns.
Yet, India’s full membership to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) during the Astana summit, appeared to impart a positive dimension to ties. President Xi congratulated India on becoming an official member state of the SCO, the statement said. On his part, Prime Minister Modi thanked Mr. Xi for supporting India’s membership to the SCO.
According to the statement, President Xi also said that China and India should increase trade and investment cooperation to ensure that the two countries were able to enjoy more “early stage profits” from large scale projects in infrastructure and industry.
The meeting between the two leaders has been preceded by remarks by both sides, signaling their possible intent for a thaw in ties. China on Monday had welcomed remarks by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a panel discussion in St. Petersburg, where he had said that despite their border dispute, the China-India frontier was peaceful for the last four decades.
“We have noted the positive remark made by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the China- India [situation]. We welcome that,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying had observed during her regular media briefing.
During an interview with Russia Television (RT), Mr. Modi had observed that “the 21st century is the century of Asia”. “It means that both India and China will influence the situation of the world in the
coming decades.”
Observers say that after the friction caused by the Belt and Road summit held in the Chinese capital that India boycotted, Beijing and New Delhi were now keen to re-pivot their ties in a positive direction. A string of Indian ministers starting with Science and Technology minister, Harsh Vardhan who arrived in Beijing on Monday, are in the offing. The visitors would also include the minister of state for external affairs VK Singh, who will arrive in Beijing later his month to participate in the first meeting of foreign ministers of the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) grouping.
Prime Minister Modi and President Xi will have other opportunities to interact this year at the G-20 summit in Hamburg and the September summit of the BRICS countries in Xiamen, China.
