New Delhi: After a day of “quality time” in each other’s company touring ancient stone monuments, watching classical dances on the shores of the Bay of Bengal and talking over dinner, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed a range of topics but the devil was in the detail of what the Indian and Chinese sides chose to highlight in their briefings to the media at the end of the day.
Both countries face a “common challenge” from radicalisation which they must fight together so that it doesn’t impact the multi-cultural fabric of both nations, Indian foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale told reporters in a late night briefing.
He spoke after the dinner talks between the two leaders went way beyond the scheduled period. Apart from the theme of radicalisation, or terrorism – the Indian side’s primary talking point in virtually all international conversations these days and a place holder for referring to Pakistan – Gokhale said Modi and Xi also spoke about the trade deficit between India and China.
According to the official Chinese news agency Xinhua, however, the two leaders “held an extensive talk during the tour on dialogue and mutual learning among civilisations” in which Xi told Modi that Tamil Nadu, as “maritime transit hub for cargoes in the ancient silk road”, has a long history of exchanges with China.
The Chinese president also advocated the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2020 be used s an opportunity to conduct broader and deeper cultural and people-to-people exchanges, Xinhua reported.
In toto, Modi and Xi spent over five hours of “quality time” – as Gokhale described it – on the first day of the second Informal summit.
After Xi was welcomed by a veshti-wearing Modi at the world heritage site of Mahabalipuram, the Indian prime minister took the Chinese president on a quick tour of the different monuments which were built by the Pallava dynasty in the seventh and eighth centuries.
At the rock relief known as ‘Arjuna’s Penance’, Modi told Xi that it was a philosophical interpretation of man and nature living together in harmony. At ‘Ganesh ratha’, the prime minister pointed out that it continued to be part of living culture, stated Gokhale.
Thereafter, they witnessed a cultural show of south Indian classical dance and music against a backdrop of the illuminated Shore temple. At the end of the half an hour-long dance programme presented by the Chennai-based Kalakshetra Foundation, the two leaders walked a few paces to a specially constructed tented pavilion.
The dinner, which lasted for two hours, comprised an array of south Indian dishes from across the four states.
Tamil Nadu: Non-vegetarian menu of the dinner hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for Chinese President Xi Jinping today in Mahabalipuram. pic.twitter.com/FrKqWTaA8Q
— ANI (@ANI) October 11, 2019
According to Gokhale, the two leaders talked largely about their national priorities during their five hours together on Friday. The deliberations on Saturday would be formal, involving both delegations, and will encompass regional and international issues.
The Indian delegation included external affairs minister S. Jaishankar and national security advisor Ajit Doval. Xi Jinping brought a 90 member-strong official entourage, but the key members of his delegation included Ding Xuexiang, member of the political bureau of the Communist Party of China central committee, Yang Jiechi, director of office of foreign affairs of the CPC central committee, Wang Yi, state councillor and foreign minister and He Lifeng, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
The two delegations sat separately, while the leaders had their long repast, with interpreters sitting next to them.
The foreign secretary said that Modi informed Xi that he had received a “renewed mandate for economic development”. The Chinese president responded that he looked forward to closely working with him over the next five years.
Gokhale stated that there was a general discussion on trade issues – “on trying to identify areas for investment and how to enhance the trade volume and trade value”. He added that discussion included the matter of “trade deficit and trade imbalance”.
In 2018, India and China bilateral trade stood at $95 billion, with the trade deficit recorded at $57.86 billion, as per Chinese official data.
Thereafter, the Indian foreign secretary claimed, the discussion steered towards the challenges faced by both countries from terrorism.
“Both leaders said that these were large countries and that radicalisation was a concern to both… and that both would work together so that radicalisation and terrorism did not affect the fabric of our multicultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious societies,” said Gokhale.
The top Indian diplomat indicated that the two leaders had a “general sense that both leaders have that this was a common challenge and we will work to overcome it”.
Whenever India has raised terrorism with China, the underlying current has been that New Delhi would like Beijing to push Pakistan to take action against terror groups. This agenda will be taken up through the entire summit.
China has claimed that its key threat comes from radicalism in the Uighur Muslim community in Xinjiang province. It has since devised a massive “re-education” policy which includes sending Uighurs to special camps.
Earlier this week, the US commerce department blacklisted 28 Chinese companies for taking part in a surveillance programme, which China claims is aimed at fighting Islamic extremism.
However, the state-run Xinhua news agency did not mention that trade or terrorism had been topics of discussion.
Instead, it said that both leaders agreed to “respect and learn from each other so as to jointly achieve common development and prosperity, as well as the great rejuvenation of the two civilisations”.