Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will have their high-stakes and much-awaited bilateral meeting later in the day on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi. Ahead of it, Beijing sent out a message of “good neighbourliness”, stressing that both the Asian giants should focus on their long-term friendship and “properly handle differences”.
This will be Xi’s first visit to India in seven years, even as both Beijing and New Delhi continue their cautious efforts in normalising diplomatic relations after the 2020 Galwan clash and years of mistrust.
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Commenting on the meeting, Chinese envoy to India Xu Feihong asserted that Beijing will work with New Delhi towards a strategic betterment of the two ties between the two nations.
“China will work with India to act on the strategic guidance of the two leaders, handle the bilateral relations from a strategic height and long-term perspective, step up communication, enhance cooperation, properly handle differences, and be friends enjoying good neighborliness and partners helping each other succeed,” Xu tweeted.
THIRD STRAIGHT YEAR OF XI-MODI MEETING
Xu said the proposed meeting would mark the third consecutive year in which Xi and PM Modi meet, following their meetings in Kazan and Tianjin.
Xi is scheduled to arrive in New Delhi on Saturday to attend the 18th BRICS Summit and hold bilateral talks with PM Modi on the sidelines. The visit will be Xi’s first trip to India in nearly seven years.
CHINA STRESSES COMMUNICATION, COOPERATION
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning also said Beijing was ready to work with India to act on the strategic guidance of the two leaders and handle bilateral relations from a strategic and long-term perspective.
Mao said the two countries should step up communication, enhance cooperation and properly handle their differences. She described China and India as “friends enjoying good neighbourliness and partners helping each other succeed”.
The proposed talks come against the backdrop of efforts by India and China to maintain high-level engagement despite differences over bilateral issues.
BRICS SUMMIT AMID GLOBAL CONFLICTS
Mao also said China was ready to work with BRICS countries to settle disputes through dialogue and negotiation and contribute to peace and stability amid the Iran-US conflict and the Russia-Ukraine war.
She said BRICS had emerged as a key platform for emerging markets and developing countries and had become “a real force standing at the forefront of the Global South”.
India, as the current chair of BRICS, is hosting the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12 and 13.
Xi last visited India in 2019 for an informal summit with PM Modi in Mamallapuram near Chennai. He had earlier travelled to Goa for the BRICS summit in 2016 and made his first visit to India in September 2014.
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
