New Delhi, July 27
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping had reached a “consensus” to restore bilateral tiesduring their meeting on the margins of the G20 summit in Bali last year, acknowledged the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), a couple of days after its Chinese counterpart had made the claim.
Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra when briefing the media on the PM’s engagements in Bali last year had said the two leaders had only exchanged courtesies at the dinner hosted by Indonesian President Joe Wikodo. Since then analysts have panned Sino-Indian ties with the understanding that both leaders had cold shouldered each other at Bali.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry had made the revelation in a statement on the meeting between NSA Ajit Doval and Director of theCentral Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of ChinaWang Yi in Johannesburg on the margins of the BRICS meeting of NSAs.On Tuesday, Wang was reappointed China’s Foreign Minister, after his successor Qin Gang was sacked from the post.
MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi initially said Foreign Secretary had said the PM and Xi exchanged courtesies and spoke of the need to “stabilise our bilateral relations”. But when informed that the transcript did not mention any such thing, Bagchi said the two leaders had indeed conversed.