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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping began their last round of one-on-one talks here today on the second day of a two-day informal summit aimed at forging consensus to improve the bilateral relations and address the contentious issues bedevilling their ties.
The two leaders walked together along the picturesque East Lake. They were accompanied by two translators. They also had tea after the walk. “Taking India-China relations on a forward-looking path, charting the future direction of the relationship! PM @narendramodi and Chinese President Xi take a walk together along the East Lake in Wuhan today morning,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Raveesh Kumar tweeted.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping take a walk together along the East Lake in Wuhan on Saturday morning. Photo credit: @MEAIndia
Modi and Xi then took a boat ride in the East Lake. The two leaders were seen talking to each other in relax mood inside the house boat. They would conclude their talks with one-on-one lunch hosted by Xi in the honour of Modi. The Prime Minister is due to leave for home after that.
Held ‘extensive, fruitful’ talks
Modi on Saturday said he held “extensive and fruitful” talks with Xi during their first round of two-day informal summit in Wuhan.
“I am very pleased to meet with President Xi Jinping in Wuhan. We conducted extensive and fruitful talks and exchanged opinions on strengthening India-China relations and other international issues,” Mr. Modi said in a post on the popular Chinese social media site Weibo, where he has 1,83,112 followers.
“Thank you, President Xi Jinping, for the wonderful gesture of personally accompanying me in the Hubei Provincial Museum. The Museum is home to great facets of Chinese history and culture,” he said.
The two leaders yesterday held extensive talks amid the warmth and bonhomie. They started the summit talks at the Hubei Provincial Museum where Xi took Modi around introducing the historic artefacts. The museum walk scheduled for 20 minutes lasted over 40 minutes after which they began one-on-one talks.
Special gesture: Chinese President Xi took PM Narendra Modi on a tour of the exhibition of Marquis Yi of Zeng Cultural Relics and Treasure displayed at the Hubei Provincial Museum. Photo credit: @MEAIndia
‘No agreement meet’
The summit was stated to be unique as the two leaders have no pressure and obligation to strike any agreements nor make big announcements but focus mainly on candid discussions on solutions to some of the vexed problems like the boundary question and other issues.
Their one-on-one talks were followed by delegation-level interaction with six top officials each from both sides took part, giving an impression that some of the critical issues were on the table for discussion. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and Indian Ambassador to China Gautam Bambawale were present in the meeting.
Xi headed a high-powered delegation which included Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Ding Xuexiang, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Yang Jiechi and State Councillor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi.
The delegation talks which apparently focussed on some of the most contentious issues lasted for over two hours overshooting scheduled half an hour, hinting the seriousness of the discussions, officials said. Later Xi hosted a banquet in the honour of Modi at East Lake.
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