Prime Minister Modi Has Been Invited By Jinping To Visit China Again

Not even a full month has passed since the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Chinese counterpart in an important bilateral visit in India. And now it seems that the Indian Prime Minister Modi has been invited to visit China soon again, next year.

It’s important to note that following their informal summit that took place in China the last year, the Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and his opposite number from India, PM Modi met recently in southern India.

And that told, where the recent developments stand then, it appears that XI Jinping has sent a direct formal invitation to the Indian Prime Minister, inviting Modi to visit China next year.

In an official statement, Jinping’s message was welcoming and clear, “I welcome you to come to China for another meeting next year.”

What’s important to note here is that despite there being extreme disagreements between the two countries regarding the Kashmir issue, the two nations continue to be involved in talks and bi-lateral discussions.

The critical takeaway, one felt, from Modi and Xi Jinping’s visit last month in South India was to put the strained relationship (between the two countries) on the right track. A key factor leading to the widely-felt acrimony being the disputed Kashmir region.

It was being felt that the two countries would fall out heavily over the disputed Kashmir region, post India’s decision to scrap the Article 370, a move that made the region a Union Territory.

But apart from this, what’s at stake, one reckons, are the Indo-Chinese bi-lateral relations. The equation and math in these remain simple; the smoother the ties between the two countries, the better the outcome for trade and growing relationships.

Meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, XI Jinping indicated his intent to bring the relations between the two neighboring countries ‘on the right track.’ Apart from that, what was commonly understood was that the noted Chinese Premier was willing to interact and engage with his Indian counterpart in a bid to, “to guide a better and more stable development of China-India relations.”

Meanwhile, the national and private media channels in India elaborated on the spicy new development and were of the following view:

The two should “increase political mutual trust, properly manage differences and expand practical cooperation so as to guide a better and more stable development of bilateral ties,” Xi said, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement released on Thursday.

“2020 will be here soon, and I hope China-India relations will achieve new and greater development in the new year,” the statement quoted Xi as saying. “I welcome you to come to China for another meeting next year.”

China’s statement made no mention of Kashmir.

That said, a formal statement according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry highlighted the importance of the two neighboring nations maintaining smooth and cordial relations by emphasizing the following, “the two countries should increase political mutual trust, properly manage differences and expand practical cooperation so as to guide a better and more stable development of bilateral ties.”

On that note, one certainly expects that the new year 2020 will take China-India relations to new, unprecedented heights.