{"id":19335,"date":"2018-05-01T11:00:34","date_gmt":"2018-05-01T05:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=19335"},"modified":"2018-04-30T16:27:20","modified_gmt":"2018-04-30T10:57:20","slug":"the-informal-india-china-summit-at-wuhan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/the-informal-india-china-summit-at-wuhan\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cinformal\u201d India-China Summit at Wuhan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Context:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A <\/span><b>two day informal summit<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping took place in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in the last week of April 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Background:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Since the Doklam Standoff, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">there have been <\/span><b>no high level meetings between India and China<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An informal summit was thus called to<\/span><b> improve bilateral ties<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and to <\/span><b>prevent another standoff<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at the border. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The summit had <\/span><b>no fixed agenda<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> so that a wide range of issues could be covered.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Note:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In December 2017, the<\/span><b> two Foreign Ministers met in New Delhi <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">followed by a meeting between China\u2019s then state councilor Yang Jiechi and Mr. Modi\u2019s National Security Adviser, Ajit Doval.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale visited China<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in February 2018<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman went to China for <\/span><b>Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meetings<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Significance of the summit:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The very decision by the<\/span><b> Chinese President Xi Jinping to spend two days in the city<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi sends out a<\/span><b> message to Chinese business and political classes that ties with India have the highest approval. <\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The summit has shown that despite bilateral and geopolitical differences, <\/span><b>India and China can resolve differences peacefully and through prolonged dialogue.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The summit\u2019s <\/span><b>outcomes may have been limited <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">but are<\/span><b> very valuable to stabilise the relationship.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It has underlined the<\/span><b> necessity of an <\/b><b><i>entente cordiale<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> between the two countries, which have become <\/span><b>increasingly distrustful of each other.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Major Takeaways:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both the countries have decided to <\/span><b>\u201cissue strategic guidance to their militaries to strengthen communication\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0in order to build trust and mutual understanding and enhance predictability and effectiveness in the management of border affairs, essentially to avoid another Doklam-like confrontation<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They have addressed measures to <\/span><b>balance the ballooning trade deficit<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of about $52 billion (of about $84 billion bilateral trade), mostly by encouraging agricultural and pharmaceutical exports to China<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both the countries discussed a <\/span><b>joint project in Afghanistan.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This proposed joint economic project in Afghanistan could be <\/span><b>instrumental in mitigating the trust deficit between the two sides. <\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They attempted to <\/span><b>reduce the heat over unresolved issues and so-called \u201cirritants\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the relationship, such as China\u2019s block on India\u2019s NSG membership bid or the UN\u2019s terror designation for Pakistan-based groups, and India\u2019s opposition to the Belt and Road Initiative or its use of the Tibet issue by strengthening the existing mechanisms of dialogue.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Positive changes after the summit:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A <\/span><b>statemen<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">t was made by the Chinese vice foreign minister that <\/span><b>China will not push India to join its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to connect countries Asia, Europe and Africa amid India&#8217;s persistent reservations on Xi\u2019s mega project on the grounds of China\u2013Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and financing patterns. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Chinese business and industrial houses<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> could now choose<\/span><b> India as destination for greenfield projects and not just mergers and acquisitions. <\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Way Forward:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Wuhan summit has recommitted India and China to managing bilateral relations in a manner that<\/span><b> creates the conditions for the \u201cAsian Century<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If China and India <\/span><b>can cooperate in Afghanistan,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> they can <\/span><b>certainly do so in other parts of the neighbourhood.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mr. Modi and Mr. Xi, both with <\/span><b>strong domestic political standing<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, would be<\/span><b> able to reach an agreement,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and use it to further <\/span><b>consolidate their domestic appeal,<\/b><\/li>\n<li>The \u201cinformal summit\u201d is being perceived as a big positive for Chinese companies investing in India as the two governments attempt to reset bilateral ties. This would give a major boost to the Make in India Campaign.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context: A two day informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping took place in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in the last week of April 2018. Background: Since the Doklam Standoff, there have been no high level meetings between India and China. An informal summit was thus called to&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/the-informal-india-china-summit-at-wuhan\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The \u201cinformal\u201d India-China Summit at Wuhan<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":19336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-editorials","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/ExpertSpeak_Gautam_Chikermane-1.jpg?fit=1003%2C599&ssl=1","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":1700807120,"cached_date":1704911479},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}