【New Delhi/Hamburg】Amidst the ongoing military stand-off between India and China in the tri-junction region of India-Bhutan-China near Sikkim and a day after either side had rejected the possibility of a ‘pull aside’ meeting between their two leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday (07-07-2017) shook hands on the sidelines of an informal BRICS leaders’ meeting.
Both are in Hamburg to attend the G20 Summit. In a tweet, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said Modi and Xi discussed "a range of issues" at the BRICS leaders' informal gathering in Hamburg "hosted by China." Baglay didn’t elaborate on the details, or whether the military standoff between China and India in the Dokalam area near the Bhutan tri-junction came up for discussion.
Mr. Modi on Friday held bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Japan, Shinzo Abe, and Canada, Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. Modi also had a brief chat with many top world leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Theresa May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.
At the BRICS leaders’ gathering in Hamburg, Mr. Modi held informal meetings with Brazilian President Michel Temer and South African President Jacob Zuma.
○China will have to take military way if India doesn't listen
【Beijing】As the standoff at the Doklam area of Sikkim in India continued for the third week, the longest between the two countries, the official media and the think-tanks here have said that "war is possible if the conflict between India and China is not handled properly". China would be forced to use a "military way" to end the standoff in the Sikkim sector if India "refuses to listen" to it, a Chinese expert has warned.
"China is trying its best to use historical lessons to reason with India and show sincerity in peacefully solving the problem, but if India refuses to listen, then China would have no other choice than to use a military way of solving the problem," Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told the state-run Global Times. Hu claimed that India is provoking China because it wanted to prove to the US that it could contain China while Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in the US. But Hu said Trump was not like his predecessor Barack Obama. "Obama believes India is important only because they share the same values, but Trump is very pragmatic, and he doesn't treat India as a valuable ally because New Delhi is too weak to confront Beijing," Hu opined. Although India always treats China as its biggest rival, China does not think so as India lags far behind China, Song Zhongping, a Beijing-based military expert, was quoted as saying by the daily.
Asked about India’s assertion that China is violating the agreement reached by the Special Representatives on the boundary in 2012 over the tri-junction (the junction of China, India and Bhutan), Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a media briefing here that the road being built by China had nothing to do with the tri-junction point and China had not breached the 2012 agreement.
【New Delhi】The Congress has come down hard on the Centre’s foreign policy, questioning its stance on the prevailing tension along the China borders, and wondering why Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been silent on the issue.
On the other hand, India Foundation, a prominent think tank based in New Delhi, has called off the visit of its delegation to a university in China after the Chinese Embassy denied visas to two researchers of the institution. The Chinese Embassy in New Delhi, however, said that it had issued visas to all the members of the India Foundation delegation.
【News source】
G20 Summit 2017: PM Modi praises Xi's BRICS leadership
Xi, Modi shake hands amidst border stand-off
Modi holds bilaterals with Abe, Trudeau on sidelines of G20
Trump walks up to Modi for 'impromptu' chat at G20 Summit
Modi seeks UK's help in return of economic offenders
China will have to take military way if India doesn't listen
Delhi has ‘ulterior motives’, asserts Beijing
Congress slams PM for Chinese incursions
Think tank members denied visa
Not denied visa to India Foundation researchers: Chinese Embassy
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