Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit China later this week for an informal meeting with President Xi Jinping, as efforts at rapprochement gather pace following a testing year in ties between the two giant neighbours.
The Chinese government’s top diplomat, State Councillor Wang Yi, said the two will meet on Friday and Saturday in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
“Our common interests far outweigh our differences. The two countries have no choice other than pursuing everlasting friendship, mutually beneficial co-operation and common development,” Wang told reporters after meeting External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in Beijing.
“The summit will go a long way towards deepening the mutual trust between the two great neighbours,” he added.
“We will make sure that the informal summit will be a complete success and a new milestone in the history of China-India relations.”
Modi has sought to re-set ties after disputes over issues including their disputed border with Tibet and other issues.
The Asian giants were locked in a 73-day military stand-off in a remote, high-altitude stretch of that boundary last year.
At one point, soldiers from the two sides threw stones and punches.
The confrontation between the nuclear-armed powers in the Himalayas underscored Indian alarm at China’s expanding security and economic links in South Asia.
China’s ambitious Belt and Road initiative of transport and energy links bypasses India, apart from a corner of Jammu and Kashmir, but involves India’s neighbours Sri Lanka, Nepal and the Maldives.
Modi’s previously unannounced Wuhan trip is even more unusual in that he will visit China again in June for a summit in Qingdao of the China and Russia-led security grouping, the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, which India joined last year.
It is almost unheard of for foreign leaders to visit China twice in such close succession.
Xi is also extending Modi the rare honour of a meeting outside of Beijing, which almost never happens unless there is a multilateral summit taking place.
Earlier in the day, Swaraj and Wang pledged to improve bilateral ties.
“This year, under the guidance of our leaders, China-India relations have achieved good development and Madam Minister have made a very important contribution to that which we highly appreciate,” Wang said.
“On the eve of closing of China’s NPC (National People’s Congress) this year, President Xi Jinping received a very important phone call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The two leaders had very in depth exchange and reached important consensus on furthering the China-India relationship. We must work very hard to implement that,” Wang added.
Modi’s nationalist government has reversed course on its relationship with Beijing apparently after realising its hardline on China was not working.
Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who lives in India and who China considers a dangerous separatist, is also facing the cold shoulder.
In March, India issued an unprecedented ban on Tibetans holding a rally with the Dalai Lama in New Delhi to mark the 60th anniversary of the start of the failed uprising against Chinese rule.
Other areas of disagreement remain, however, between Beijing and New Delhi.
China has blocked India’s membership of a nuclear cartel and it has also been blocking UN sanctions against a Pakistan-based militant leader blamed for attacks on India.
India and China have a long history of mistrust as they jostle for regional supremacy.
China has fostered closer ties with Pakistan in recent years, while India is revamping its military and bolstering its partnership with the United States.
Both nations say they are committed to solving longstanding border disagreements through dialogue, but progress has been glacial.
India and China went to war in 1962 over Arunachal Pradesh, with Chinese troops temporarily capturing part of the Himalayan territory.
The dispute remains unresolved, with India considering Arunachal Pradesh one of its northeastern states while China stakes claim to about 90,000sq km of the state.
In February, Beijing lodged an angry protest with New Delhi over a trip by Modi to the state.
But Modi called Xi in March to congratulate the Chinese leader on his re-appointment as president, with New Delhi saying both agreed that “as two major powers growing rapidly, bilateral relations between India and China are vital”.


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