Ahead of a one-on-one meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping slated for Tuesday, India has signalled that it wants to open a new chapter in ties with China, going past the Doklam crisis as a reference point in the New Delhi-Beijing equation.
“We want to bury the ghost of D-word [Doklam] in our engagement in the future,” an official source who did not wish to be named, said. “This will be the central message that the Prime Minster would like to convey during his visit to Xiamen,” he observed.
It is yet unclear whether the summit of the Brazil-Russia-India- China-South Africa (BRICS) grouping will be a turning point in China-India ties in the post-Doklam phase. But ahead of the summit of the five emerging economies, China had also pointed out that the two countries must find a long-term solution to prevent incidents like the face-off in the Doklam plateau to recur.
In a briefing held on the eve of the BRICS summit, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi hoped the two countries “will join hands and work together for the rejuvenation of, for the development of our region and contribute our share to the greater development”. With reference to the Doklam crisis, Mr. Wang said: “In the meantime, with our engagement through a different mechanism, we need to work out a solution in the long run.”
On Sunday, Mr. Jinping had also highlighted the urgency of avoiding “confrontation” as the security template for the five emerging economies, which are setting course on the second decade of their collaboration. He underscored that the BRICS grouping must uphold the value of diplomacy to resolve “hotspot issues”.
Without specifying the Doklam crisis, Mr. Xi, speaking at a business forum, stressed that “peace and development” and not “conflict and confrontation” should be the security template of the five emerging
countries. “Incessant conflicts in some parts of the world and hotspot issues are opposing challenges to world peace,” Mr. Xi observed. “People around the world want peace and cooperation, not conflict or confrontation.”
The sources said that a “strong statement” on terrorism is expected in the Joint communiqué that is likely to be released in the afternoon on Monday.
In tune with the start of the BRICS summit, a commentary in the state-run Xinhua news agency stressed that the Xiamen gathering “offers a new chance for the leaders of the five member nations to bridge the governance deficit as the world order is in urgent need of an overhaul.”
It underscored that with the rise of protectionism taking hold in major markets like the United States and parts of Europe, that the “BRICS must step into this vacuum and give some clear direction about
what they see as the future of globalisation, and play their part in building the next phase of globalisation.”
