'Walk in park, boat ride and talks without agenda': PM Modi, Xi Jinping set for informal summit in bid to reset ties

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will tomorrow meet for an informal meeting in an attempt to reproach ties, months after the two countries were involved in a military standoff in Doklam. 

The two leaders will meet for a two-day 'informal' summit in the Chinese city of Wuhan from Friday sans any opulence and mostly without aides. Gautam Bambawale, India's Ambassador to China, said that at an informal meeting like this the leaders are free to talk about anything. 

Informal setting

PM Modi and Xi Jinping will probably discuss various issues while walking in a park or during a boat ride on the East Lake, Bambawale said. 

East Lake is one of the top tourist attractions in Wuhan. The large freshwater lake, surrounded by the parks and luscious vegetation, offers boat rides and is an unusual place for talks between two world leaders. 

The city of Wuhan is full of beautiful parks such as Wuhan Botanical Garden, Dayu Shenhua Park, and Donghu Tingtao Scenic Area.

While Jinping has already arrived in Wuhan, Modi will reach the Central Chinese city later in the evening. 

Both sides have stressed this is an informal meeting rather than a summit - without the pomp and flag-waving children - as a way, hopefully, get more done.

No set agenda for talks

Indian officials said there was no agenda and the two would likely address "misunderstandings" that had festered for years and escalated into a 73-day military face-off in Doklam plateau last year.

"At the informal summit between PM Modi and Chinese President, main element is that there will be no set agenda for the talks. Talks will be held in a friendly setting, they will probably have a walk in the park or a boat ride in Wuhan," Bambawale said. 

"The meeting is aimed at giving the two leaders an atmosphere in which they can talk to each other freely, frankly, and candidly. There are no outcome documents in terms of MoU or agreements signed in an informal meeting," he told ANI. 

"This is a strategic communication at an overarching level between PM Modi and Chinese President. Objectives are to understand each other better and thereby hoping there will be greater trust between the two leaders," the Indian envoy said.

"It can provide a comfortable atmosphere for the two countries' leaders to have full and deep exchanges on important issues of mutual concern," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang, days after the announcement of Modi's trip, which will be followed by another to China in June for a regional conference.

Chinese state television said in a commentary that often, more gets done at informal meetings when people can speak their minds. It pointed to the success of informal talks Xi had with then-US President Barack Obama in 2013 in California.

Boldest attempt at rapprochement
 
The meeting between Modi and Jinping is their boldest attempt yet at rapprochement in talks, months after Doklam dispute. The talks are aimed at ending decades of distrust that has deepened as China, with an economy five times bigger than India's, asserts itself in the region.

Their differences are significant: as well as disputes over stretches of a 3,500 km (2,200 miles) border, the Asian giants are bumping up against each other in the Indian Ocean and squabbling over Xi's signature Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

India is opposed to China's One Belt One Road Initiative as one of its branches runs through Pakistani-occupied Kashmir.

For its part, China has been concerned about US efforts to draw India into a maritime "quad" of democracies, including Japan and Australia, in a part of the world they have begun calling the "Indo-Pacific" instead of the "Asia-Pacific", which to some places China too firmly at the centre.

At the same time, pressure over trade that US President Donald Trump has put on China is driving its efforts to improve ties with others facing the heat from Trump, including India.

China needs to get India on its side, said Hu Shisheng, director of the Institute of South and Southeast Asian and Oceania Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, a state-backed think-tank.

"As far as the United States is concerned, the Indo-Pacific is crucial, and for China, the Indo-Pacific is aimed at China. So China needs to win India over as much as possible," Hu said.

Both countries have recently sought to accommodate each other's concerns.

Last month, India issued an unprecedented ban on Tibetans holding a rally with the Dalai Lama in New Delhi to mark the 60th anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

China regards the Tibetan spiritual leader who lives in exile in an Indian hill town as a dangerous separatist.

For its part, India was pleased when China dropped its objections to international efforts to put India's arch-foe, Pakistan, on a "grey list" of counties deemed to be making inadequate efforts to tackle terrorist financing.

China has long stood by Pakistan with political and military support, a sore issue for India.

Ahead of the talks, China reassured Pakistan their relations were as firm as ever and would "never rust".

High stakes for both India and China

The stakes are high for the world's two most populous countries, which went to war in 1962 and continue to ramp up forces on either side of their border.

China claims more than 90,000 sq km (35,000 sq miles) ruled by India in the eastern Himalayas. India says China occupies 38,000 sq km (14,600 sq miles) of its territory on the Aksai Chin plateau in the west.

Wang Dehua, director of the Centre for South Asia Studies at Shanghai's Tongji University, said the talks should help heal the wounds of last year's border dispute.

"The Indian people should recognise that China is not a threat. Improving ties has only advantages for India," Wang told the official Jiefang Daily. 

(With Reuters inputs)