There is a deliberative attempt at innovation in every decision prime minister Narendra Modi takes and after this it may become a norm. Chinese president Xi Jinping, who starts his three-day India visit on September 17 from Ahmedabad, is the first foreign dignitary to start off from outside Delhi. It is the norm that state visits start off in the national capital. However, from now on, foreign heads of state and government would be encouraged to start by exploring other parts of the country apart from the Capital.
The PM will be in Ahmedabad to receive the Chinese head of state. Another first would be that there will be official talks during Xi's day-long stay in the Guajarat capital, Modi's home state. The ministry of external affairs spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said there would be signing of agreements, which is again a first. He was not in a position to disclose anything about the nature of agreements to be signed, but he assured that those signed in Ahmedabad will pertain to that region. There will be other agreements that Modi and Xi will sign in Delhi after officials talks, at the meeting between the two leaders along with aides and later at delegation level.
There has been much preparation on the part of India for the visit, especially through national security adviser Ajit Doval's visit to Beijing last week, where he called on Xi and met ministers and officials to discuss the visit. Akbaruddin said Doval conveyed to the Chinese government that India sees "the visit as an important landmark". It is only the third Chinese presidential visit. The earlier ones were that of Jian Zemin in 1996 and Hu Jintao in 2006. The MEA spokesperson said that the "new government was engaged in intensive global engagement" and Xi's visit is being seen as part of this new drive.
There have been brisk exchange of visits between the two countries ever since Modi took over as prime minister in May. Chinese prime minister Li Keqiang was the first foreign leader to have telephoned Modi and congratulated him after the swearing-in. Modi had met Xi on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Brazil in July, and it was followed by vice president Hamid Ansari's visit to China. Minister for external affairs Sushma Swaraj had met her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi twice, first in June in Nw Delhi and again on the sidelines of the Asean Regional Forum in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw in August.
The MEA spokesman and joint secretary (east) in the ministry Pradeep Rawat did not reveal any breakthrough agreements on the economic front nor on the crucial issue of border talks. To repeated queries about Chinese incursions in the north-east, Akbaruddin said that incursions will be handled on the ground by the "brave sentinels" and made it out that it will not in any way impact on the Modi-Xi talks because these are a different thing altogether.
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