By Shannon Tiezzi
Despite lingering disagreements, both Chinese and Indian officials are optimistic about Xi’s trip to India next week.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first trip to India is coming up next week, and both governments have high hopes for a productive visit. With Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval in Beijing this week to make final preparations for Xi’s visit, both sides were putting their best foot forward.
As The Diplomat has noted before, Beijing is especially optimistic about China-India ties under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While serving as chief minister of Gujarat Province, Modi gained a reputation within Chinese circles as a pragmatic, economically-minded leader. Modi came to power in part thanks to a promise to bring these same qualities to bear at a national level, raising hopes in Beijing about increased economic ties with its southwestern neighbor. The timing is auspicious even beyond that: India is “looking east” while China is “marching west,” giving these two countries increased prominence in each other’s foreign policy strategies. To achieve their goals, Beijing and New Delhi will have to work together.
While in Beijing, Doval met with Xi Jinping and passed along Modi and India’s excitement for Xi’s visit next week. Xi’s trip to India will be his second face-to-face meeting with Modi; the two men first met at the BRICS summit in Fortaleza, Brazil back in July. In his meeting with Doval, Xi spoke warmly of the connection he and Modi established at Fortaleza. Both Xi and Doval stressed the need for cooperation between India and China, as well as the expectation that Xi’s upcoming visit will be a big step forward in mutual trust. They laid heavy emphasis on India and China’s commonalities — they are neighbors, the world’s two most populous countries, and the world’s two largest developing economies.
Read the full story at The Diplomat