Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host Chinese President Xi Jinping for an informal summit later this week, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India, with the talks at a time when ties they have tensed over occupied Kashmir.
The meeting in the city of Chennai, in southern India, from October 11 to 12, aims to improve the relationship formed by the two leaders when they met in the Chinese city of Wuhan last year to help stabilize ties after a confrontation in another disputed section of his long period. border, far from Kashmir.
But the decision of New Delhi in August to withdraw special status for occupied Kashmir led to a strong condemnation of Pakistan and its Chinese ally, which took the matter to the United Nations Security Council.
"The next Chennai Informal Summit will provide an opportunity for the two leaders to continue their discussions on general issues of bilateral, regional and global importance and exchange views on the deepening of the India-China Closer Development Association," he said. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India in a statement. on Wednesday.
India insists that the revocation of the special status of Kashmir occupied by a Muslim majority is an internal matter and is aimed at a faster economic development of the Himalayan territory. China said it believed that India and Pakistan should refrain from taking unilateral measures in Kashmir and expressed concern about human rights violations in the territory. India has ruled out those concerns.
"The second informal meeting as such is significant given these ominous signals at the bilateral, regional and global levels," said Srikanth Kondapalli, a professor of Chinese studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.
"The stabilization of relations is important, since both face a number of problems, both national and regional," he said.
Xi before the trip to India, China invited the Prime Minister Imran Khan to discuss bilateral issues. China supports Pakistan to safeguard its independent sovereignty and territorial integrity, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang said on Tuesday when he met with Imran.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Tuesday that President Xi had entrusted Pakistan with his next trip to India.
"The nature of our relationships is such that we trust each other at every step," said Qureshi.
India and China are demanding territories thousands of miles to the east along the Himalayas and fought a brief border in 1962.
In recent years, India has come so close to the United States, with which it has built closer as Japan military ties.
During Xi's visit, Modi is expected to raise economic problems, including India's $ 53 billion trade deficit with China in 2018/19, and the lower presence of Indian companies in China compared to other major economies.
China, on the other hand, is expected to require New Delhi to make an independent decision on the offer of the telecommunications equipment manufacturer Huawei for the 3G network proposed by India and not to be influenced by the pressure of the United States that It is a security risk.
The sources had told him Reuters in August, Beijing had warned "inverse sanctions" to Indian companies engaged in business in China in case India blocked Huawei Technologies due to pressure from Washington.
During the next meeting, officials said Modi and Xi will tour the coastal city of Mamallapuram, near Chennai, home of an eighth-century temple.
Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1509892/modi-to-host-xi-at-summit-with-ties-strained-by-occupied-kashmir