PM Modi To Meet China’s Xi Jinping At Bishkek This Week

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on June 13-14. At the sidelines of the summit, PM Modi will hold bilateral meetings with leaders of Russia and China.

The meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping is the one that will be followed very closely, given the common concerns and improving ties between the two nations after the Doklam standoff.

This will be the second meeting between the two leaders after the Wuhan Summit in April 2018. Modi and Xi had also met on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in December last year.

US trade protectionism likely on agenda

China on Monday said it was hoping that the two leaders would discuss their respective trade frictions with the US and reach a consensus on opposing trade protectionism during their “very important” meeting.

Chinese officials hope that India, which is also facing trade frictions with the US especially over termination of its designation as a ‘beneficiary developing country’ under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), would join the fight against Trump’s protectionist policies.

The Trump administration has imposed heavy tariffs on China and has tightened trade restrictions on Chinese telecoms giant Huawei.

Improving India-China ties

The meeting on the sidelines of the SCO Summit will be Modi’s first meeting with Xi after winning the re-election last month.

The India-China ties are on the upswing since the Wuhan summit. The Bishkek meet is likely to step up co-operation between the two countries further.

The April 27-28 Wuhan summit between Modi and Xi was largely credited to have turned around the bilateral relations soured by the 73-day Doklam standoff in 2017, triggered by Chinese troops’ attempt to build a road close to the Indian border in an area also claimed by Bhutan.

After the Wuhan summit, both the countries stepped up efforts to improve relations in different spheres including military ties.―Business Standard