New Delhi, July 17: The External Affairs Ministry to-day played down the BBC report - without recourse to a formal contradiction - that China had suggested a Summit meeting with India for normalising Sino-Indian relations. Apart from the fact that there was no firm evidence of any change in the Chinese attitude, the main reason for the guarded official reaction was that there was no one available in Delhi to-day who could speak with some inside knowledge on the reported development. The Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, remained deeply engrossed in the intricacies of the impending Cabinet reshuffle. The Foreign Minister, Mr. Swaran Singh, was still away on his West African tour. The Chairman of the Policy Planning Committee, Mr. D.P. Dhar, who had just recovered from his illness, was not yet fully in the picture. And the two foreign policy advisers of the Prime Minister, her Principal Secretary, Mr. P.N. Haksar, and the Foreign Secretary, Mr. T.N. Kaul, were also out of town. But the speculation on the reported Chinese bid for a detante with India was evidently based on the one-hour meeting the Chinese envoy had with the Indian Ambassador in Warsaw last week, when he talked reassuringly of the need for closer contacts between the two Governments. The foreign diplomats in the Polish capital go excited about this Chinese move, which later turned out to be just a routine courtesy with no dramatic significance. The Indian Ambassador, Mr. Natwar Singh, paid a visit to the previous Chinese Ambassador in Warsaw some time last year in the course of his courtesy calls on the other heads of missions after presenting his credentials in accordance with the standard diplomatic convention.
