Objective of Modi-Xi meeting is to understand each other better: India's envoy to China

Prime Minister Modi will travel to China on April 27 for an informal summit with President Xi in the central Chinas Wuhan city.

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, India's envoy to China Gautam Bambawala on Thursday (April 26) said that the objective of the meeting " is to understand each other better". The Indian High Commissioner to China stressed on the need for greater trust between the two leaders.

It was reported on Tuesday that Modi and Xi will not issue any joint statement after summit talks slated to be held between April 27 and 28.

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

Earlier, a top Chinese diplomat had said that the Doklam standoff happened due to "lack of mutual trust" between India and China, adding that both countries need to work together to create favourable conditions and gradually settle the boundary issue. Indian and Chinese troops had been locked in a stand-off for over two months last year in the Doklam area near Sikkim before "disengaging" on August 28. The area of the standoff is also claimed by Bhutan.

"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," Bambawale added.

India-China boundary dispute spans to 3,488-km along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Both sides have held 20 rounds of talks between the Special Representatives to resolve it.

Prime Minister Modi will travel to China on April 27 for an informal summit with President Xi in central China's Wuhan city.

"Both sides have agreed not to sign an agreement or release any joint document but reach important consensus to resolve outstanding issues," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou told the media earlier this week.

This informal summit is the first of its kind and there is no precedent in each others country, he said, explaining why both the leaders opted to hold the summit.

"At the informal summit, the two leaders will have heart-to-heart discussions on overarching issues and try to build mutual trust and consensus to resolve outstanding differences," Kong said.

Asked whether the Doklam issue and the boundary dispute will figure in the talks, Kong said Doklam happened because of lack of trust.