Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Chinese president Xi Jinping on Friday discussed two thorny issues in bilateral relations – ways to narrow the trade gap between India and China and eradicate terrorism with an agreement to join hands to fight radicalisation — during talks on the first day of their second informal summit in Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu.
Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said the two leaders, meeting more than a year after their first informal summit in Wuhan in April 2018, had “very open” and “cordial” talks mainly over dinner that stretched to two-and-a-half hours – far exceeding the originally allotted time.
“PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping spent quality time over dinner and discussed a range of issues. Broadly, today’s discussions focussed on the national visions and on how to progress bilateral relations,” Gokhale said. Modi had spoken of the renewed mandate that he had received in the April-May polls for economic development. Xi on his part said that he was looking forward to working closely with prime minister on all issues in the next four and a half years, Gokhale said.
The meeting in Mamallapuram is the third between the two leaders since Modi’s re-election as prime minister in May and the sixth since Modi and Xi sat down for their first informal summit in Wuhan last April.
Xi arrived in Mamallapuram on Friday afternoon and was welcomed at Mamallapuram by prime minister Narendra Modi. Modi took Xi to three iconic monuments in Mamallapuram — Arjuna’s Penance, Panch Rathas and the Shore temple. The monuments date back to the Pallava era (4th to 9th century) and one of the reasons for choosing Mamallapuram was to highlight the contacts between the Pallava kings and China’s Fujian province where Xi served as governor once.
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