New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to China on April 27 and 28 for an unprecedented informal summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The visit marks an effort by both sides to reset relations after a troubled year in 2017 over the 72-day border stand-off.
The unexpected trip was announced on Sunday in Beijing after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj held key bilateral talks with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in the sprawling Diaoyutai state guest house.
Wuhan, in central Hubei province, sits on the famed Yangtze river. The city was previously used by Mao Zedong as a favoured retreat, and his sprawling lake-side villa once hosted world leaders there.
Travelling to China for a summit meeting with Xi – that too only a month before an already scheduled June trip for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) security summit – presents a bold diplomatic gambit by Modi.
Stabilising relations with China at a time of global uncertainty could yield dividends, both from attempting to avoid frictions ahead of an election year, and also maximising the economic dividend from the world’s second-largest economy when it is embroiled with a trade spat with the United States and seeking alternative options.
Yet the visit could also pose risks if it fails to achieve the rapprochement that both sides have been seeking.
The focus of the two day-summitry, analysts said, is likely to be more on managing, rather than resolving, long-pending issues, from the border dispute to recent differences over Xi’s pet Belt and Road Initiative.
Both sides still described it as a possibly historic event in relations. Wang, the Chinese foreign minister, said the visit to Wuhan in Hubei province at Xi’s invitation would be “a new milestone” in relations.
