Kashmir issue clouds Xi-Modi meet; RCEP issue may be on the table

Xi tells Imran Beijing will back Pak in issues related to its core interests

The developments on Wednesday followed a trajectory all-too familiar in India-China ties, with Beijing and New Delhi trading barbs over the Kashmir issue. 

New Delhi and Beijing officially confirmed in the morning that Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Chennai on Friday for a two-day “informal summit” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ending days of uncertainty that was seen as a sign of uneasiness between the two neighbours over the situation in Kashmir after India ended its special status on August 5. 

By afternoon, Xi said in Beijing that he was watching the situation in Kashmir. According to China’s official Xinhua News Agency, he told visiting Pakistan PM Imran Khan that Beijing would support Pakistan in issues related to its core interests. During their meeting, the Chinese president told Khan that the right and wrong of the situation was clear, the report said. 

New Delhi responded in the evening by stating it has seen the Xinhua report and reiterated India’s “consistent and clear” position on Jammu and Kashmir being an integral part of India. “China is well aware of our position. It is not for other countries to comment on internal affairs of India,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said. 

Increased tensions, whether emanating from military standoff in Doklam or incursions by Chinese troops in Ladakh, have preceded Modi-Xi Summit meetings since 2014. The two-day meeting in the historic town of Mamallapuram, near Chennai, from Friday will be the second ‘informal summit’ between the two leaders, the first having taken place in Wuhan, China, on April 27-28, 2018. That meeting had come in the backdrop of the military standoff in Doklam in mid-2017. 

The “informal summit” will take place just as trade ministers of 10 ASEAN countries and their six trade partners, including India and China, will meet in Bangkok for three days from Thursday to negotiate the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP free trade agreement. According to sources, India is likely to seek concessions from the Chinese side. One reason for the RCEP negotiations being stuck is the sparring between India and China. 

India would impress upon China to open up its market to Indian products, which have historically suffered from high non-tariff barriers, including extensive quality checks, senior officials said. Seeking favorable terms for India’s exports to China, which continues to ramp up its global imports, would be on Prime Minister Modi’s agenda, they said. The massive trade deficit with its northern neighbour remains a major policy headache for India even as total trade between both nations continues to rise, making China India's second-largest business partner with $87 billion worth of bilateral goods exchanges. 

In 2018-19, the difference between exports to and imports from China stood at $53 billion. However, this had climbed down from the $63 billion in the previous financial year after efforts by India to open up the vast Chinese market for Indian agri-products, rice, chili, and tobacco as well as engineering products. 

Modi is also expected to seek more investments from China, a crucial component of previous meets between them. Foreign direct investments from China reached a cumulative $2.26 billion until June 2019. As a concession, India may allow China’s demand for more Chinese-only special economic zones, sources said. 

Beijing on Wednesday also announced that their president will visit Nepal from October 11 to 13, while New Delhi announced it will host the Thai foreign minister on Thursday. 

In Beijing, the Chinese president assured Pakistan PM that the all-weather friendship between China and Pakistan is “unbreakable and rock-solid” despite changes in the international and regional situation. Khan’s visit to China is his third since he took over as prime minister in August. It promised further help on developing the Gwadar port. 

Beijing has backed Pakistan over the Kashmir issue. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in his address to the UN General Assembly, had said on Kashmir, “No action should be taken that would unilaterally change the status quo”. In Islamabad, the PM’s Office in a press release said Khan thanked Xi and the Chinese government for its “principled stance” on the Kashmir issue. 

Government sources in New Delhi said Kashmir, irrespective of which country it was dealing with, has been that matters relating to the Constitution are sovereign issues and there was no question of any discussion over them. However, if the Chinese president wanted to understand the issue, the PM will give an outline about it, they said. 

On China's objection to the declaration of Ladakh as a Union Territory, the sources said it was a demand of local population and the decision has in no way changed the respective perception of the boundary between the two countries. They said an informal summit is “beyond one issue summit”. 

“The ‘informal summit’ will provide an opportunity for the two leaders to continue their discussions on overarching issues of bilateral, regional and global importance and to exchange views on deepening India-China ‘closer development partnership’,” the MEA said. 

Meeting to devise ‘shared role’ for dragon and elephant: Beijing 

Confirming Chinese president’s visit to India, Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Lou Zhaohui addressed a special media briefing in Beijing where he said Xi-Modi meeting will provide guidance for bilateral ties and devise a “shared role” in regional affairs so that the dragon and elephant can work together. 

Luo, who until recently worked as China’s Ambassador to India, said, “During the Wuhan summit, there was strong personal chemistry between the two leaders. Without personal commitment from the two leaders, this kind of informal meeting is not possible.” 

“So, for them to sit together to have any in-depth discussion in Chennai (Mamallapuram) and to discuss global and regional affairs so that the dragon and the elephant can work together, so that we can have deeper strategic communication that will help bilateral relations and practical cooperation between the two countries,” he said. 

Their meeting “will also have a far-reaching positive implications to regional and global development and stability,” he said. Luo said officials of both sides have made meticulous preparations for the summit through close interactions.

At Mamallapuram, they will reach “consensus” on their shared vision for the reform of the international system, shared “responsibility and role in regional affairs” and “provide and growth of bilateral ties and exchanges and cooperation”, Luo said. 
 

Xi-Khan meeting

Xi, who met Khan at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, said China was ready to work with Pakistan to forge a closer China-Pakistan community of shared future in the new era. 

“President Xi assured that China has been observing the situation in Kashmir," state-run China Global Television Network, or CGTN, reported.

“China supports Pakistan to safeguard its legitimate interests and hopes relevant parties can solve the dispute via peaceful dialogue,” the channel quoted Xi as telling Khan. 

On his part, Khan "called for more efforts to stop the situation (in Kashmir) from worsening and losing control," it said. Khan said Pakistan highly values and appreciates China's objective stance on the Kashmir issue.

(With inputs from agencies) 

Why Mamallapuram?

 

Chinese President Xi Jinping will be perhaps the most famous from his land to visit the historical port city since Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang in the 7th century AD. Historical, practical as well as strategic reasons led to Mamallapuram being chosen. The port under Pallava dynasty had commercial links with China and other Southeast Asian countries. It has a famous historically significant over a 1,000-year-old carved monolith rock structure. Chennai, 57-km from the port city, has a runway big enough for the aircraft carrying the Chinese president to land among the cities under consideration to host him, including Varanasi. Mamallapuram is situated on the Indian Ocean and underscores India’s desire that there was enough space for China and India to cooperate, rather than compete, in the region. -BS Reporter