Mamallapuram: From ‘Arjuna’s Penance’ to ‘Tango Hall’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will spend six to seven hours together Friday and Saturday in the historical resort town of Mamallapuram, earlier known as Mahabalipuram. In the course of that time, they are expected to informally discuss all ‘controversial’ issues between the countries — from boundary to basmati rice and 5G to Article 370.
This is the second informal summit between the leaders after Wuhan last year. It began Friday with Modi taking Xi around three key monuments — Arjuna’s Penance, Panch Rathas and the Shore Temple.
The leaders are expected to meet for about three hours Friday, including the time spent together during the cultural show and dinner reception, following the sight-seeing. According to sources, both leaders will be savouring Tamil cuisine at the dinner reception, which is being organised at the 7th century Shore Temple built by the Pallava dynasty.
Modi and Xi will then meet one-on-one Saturday in a room called ‘Tango Hall’ at the Taj Fisherman’s Cove Resort and Spa, with delegation-level talks happening on the sidelines. This is expected to last another three hours.
India’s ambassador to China, Vikram Misri, wrote an op-ed article in one of the country’s leading dailies, Global Times, stating the importance of the relationship and the meeting.
“Today, India and China are at a unique and important juncture in our shared history. We are looking to transform and deliver fully on the promise of a better life for our citizens at a time when the world order is in flux,” Misri wrote.
“With the rise of multiple growth centres, the stress on traditional frameworks of global governance and the emergence of challenges that no single country can tackle by itself, the relationship between India and China becomes even more important.”
Modi goes by chopper, Xi by road
Modi and Xi were both received at the Chennai airport by Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and Deputy CM O. Panneerselvam.
President Xi was accompanied by Ding Xuexiang, director of the General Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC); Yang Jiechi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC; Foreign Minister Wang Yi; and He Lifeng, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and head of the National Development and Reform Commission.
Modi’s entourage includes External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
From the airport, while Modi flew to Mamallapuram in a helicopter, Xi travelled by road with his entourage. Sources said this was decided keeping in mind reports of protests against Modi’s visit to Tamil Nadu.
All contentious issues to be discussed
Since this is an informal dialogue, Modi and Xi are expected to discuss all contentious issues impacting bilateral ties in an “unstructured format”. Both sides are likely to come up with a press statement, similar to what happened after the Wuhan informal summit in April last year.
A key issue expected to come up is the Modi government’s 5 August decision to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcate the state into the union territories of J&K and Ladakh.
The issue of trade will also feature prominently on the agenda. While New Delhi remains concerned on ways to narrow the widening trade deficit, Beijing is desperate to make Modi sign the mega free-trade pact, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership or RCEP.
Out of the bilateral trade of $87 billion, India has a trade deficit of $53.56 billion, since it only exports goods worth $16.75 billion while importing over $70 billion worth of goods, according to data from the commerce department.
India is now pushing China to import a greater volume of agricultural goods, such as basmati rice and pharmaceuticals, from it.
Xi, meanwhile, is expected to take the opportunity to ask India to consider Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies for the roll-out of the next-generation 5G mobile technology. So far, Indian telecom companies have done trial runs with Samsung and Ericsson.
Elephant in the room — Pakistan
Strategically, the India-China relationship faces a proverbial elephant in the room — Pakistan.
Modi and Xi are meeting at a time when tensions between New Delhi and Beijing have escalated, with Pakistan being at the centre of things. Immediately after India scrapped Article 370, China, at the behest of Pakistan, took the Kashmir issue to the high table of the United Nations.
China also made a hard-hitting statement at the UN General Assembly, saying no country should take unilateral action in Kashmir.
Before coming to India, Xi had a bilateral meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. Both sides also issued a joint statement that stated the Chinese side is “paying close attention” to the present situation in J&K.