Today Chinese President, Xi Jinping told India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the two countries should work to manage appropriately their differences. He said, “Both the countries, China and India should strengthen multilateral communication, and appropriately manage differences and sensitive issues”.
Today they on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit and they discussed ways to improve the bilateral ties differences over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and India’s Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) entry. After boycotting the high-profile Belt and Road Forum held, in Beijing last month in which 29 world leaders took part, it is the first meeting between the two leaders.
At that time, India abstained from that summit to highlight its concerns over the 50 billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor which is a part of the Belt and Road Initiative and passes through Baltistan and Baltistan in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi are in the Kazakh capital to attend the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
China confirmed its stand to block India’s admission into the forty-eight-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). China had also stalled India’s move to list JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the United Nation.
Indian PM Modi and President Xi are expected to cross the path at the summit (G20 summit) in Germany followed by BRICS summit to be held in China in September 2017. Prime Minister Modi also met Uzbek President Mr. Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the sidelines of the SCO.
PM Modi thanked Chinese President Mr. Xi Jinping for supporting India to join the SCO. They also said that both the countries, China and India should respect the core interests of each other and appropriately manage differences. Mr. Xi Jinping also said that India and China should increase trade and investment cooperation to ensure that these countries were able to enjoy more profits from the large scale projects in infrastructure and industry. He said, “Substantive progress on the India- China- Myanmar-Bangladesh project should also be promoted”. But India has expressed unease over China’s “Silk Road” initiative to expand trade links between Eurasia and China and did not send any govt. officials from New Delhi to attend the summit of leaders and ministers in Beijing in May.
During the visit of the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama in April 2017 to Arunachal Pradesh stoked tensions between these two countries. Beijing branded him as a separatist. Since that event, India is trying to cool down tensions by rejecting the Australian request to take part in joint naval exercises with the USA and Japan to avoid agonizing neighboring country China.
The SCO was formed in 2001 to fight threats posed by radical Islam and drug trafficking from Afghanistan. On the other hand, China has said that their support is with Iran’s membership of the security bloc, as requested by Russia, and the said subject is under discussion at the summit.
