Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the luxury Taj resort Fisherman’s Cove in Mamallapuram. PTI
Sandeep Dikshit
Tribune News Service
Mamallapuram, October 12
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that their second informal summit here heralds the start of a new era in India-China relations. The ‘Chennai vision’, he hoped, would build on the first informal summit between India and China last year in Wuhan that had given fresh stability and momentum in bilateral relations.
Strategic communication between the two countries has led to increased stability, he underlined in his opening remarks at the beginning of delegation-level talks. PM Modi and XiJinpinghave met 17 times at structured summits and two informal summits, including the one in Mamallapuram. He recalled that at the Wuhan meeting, the two leaders had decided not to allow differences to fester into disputes.
PM Modi began the second day of the informal summit by “plogging’’ on the beach behind his luxury hotel. He was televised picking up trash from the beach while exercising and taking in the scenery. With no one present on the entire beach and a couple of TV cameras for company, the PM was dressed in a black tracksuit and picked up the trash with bare hands.
Later he paced in the foyer of the beach resort while waiting for Xi to arrive and then sat next to the driver in a battery-operated vehicle while XI and the interpreters sat behind him as they drove down to a retreat at the resort for nearly 45 minutes of one-to-one talks, picking up the threads from Friday’s five hours of discussions between them, including at a sumptuous dinner which stretched late into the night.
The Chinese President will leave for Nepal after wrapping up talks with PM Modi. He had met Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, invited at China’s request, two days before leaving for India.
Xi, however, was circumspect in his opening remarks. “I may follow up on the proposals and issues discussed yesterday. I will make some responses. I’m sure that our discussions today will further bring forward our relations,’’ he observed.
The leaders then broke for delegation-level talks. Besides PM Modi, the Indian side included National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale.
Xi was more forthcoming on the Indian hospitality, stating that he was “really overwhelmed’’ and the trip to South India was a memorable experience for me and us [the delegation].’’
The two leaders had met on Friday evening and toured the temples of Mamallapuram that was followed by a cultural programme and dinner. In a late night briefing, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said the two leaders discussed bilateral issues and their respective national visions. Today, he said, they will touch on regional and international issues.