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The Prime Minister is understood to have
conveyed to President Xi concerns in India
over the Chinese proposal to construct three
dams across Brahmaputra.
DURBAN: In the first-high level contact
after the new Chinese leadership took
over, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
met President Xi Jinping and raised the
issue of Beijing's proposal to construct
three dams across the Brahmaputra river
on its side.
Singh called on President Xi, who took
over as president earlier this month as
part of decadal change of power
structure in China, on the sidelines of the
BRICS Summit which the two leaders
attended here.
This is the first face-to-face meeting
between the two leaders at the highest
level after the recent change in power
structure in China.
"Water was discussed," official sources
said tersely after a 25-minute meeting
late last night after the summit without
getting into specifics.
The Prime Minister is understood to have
conveyed to President Xi concerns in
India over the Chinese proposal to
construct three dams across
Brahmaputra.
India has said the proposal would affect
water flow to India while China says it
was just run-of-the mill project that
would not hold water.
The entire expanse of the bilateral
relationship was discussed and the
meeting was very positive, the sources
said.
The two leaders expressed regards for
each other. All aspects of the relationship
were discussed but the South China issue
was not not discussed, the sources said.
Asked whether border and trade issues
were discussed, the sources maintained
that all aspects of bilateral relations came
up for discussion.
Both expressed a desire to continue their
relationship.
The sources said during an informal
discussion at the summit earlier in the
day, President Xi told Singh that he was
aware that the Prime Minister had good
relations with his predecessor Hu Jintao
and Premier Wen Jiabao and he would
like to carry forward that.
Last week, in an interaction with BRICS
journalists in Beijing, Xi had said he was
looking forward to meeting Singh in
Durban.
Xi had warm words about relations with
India and proposed a five-point formula
under which both the countries would
accommodate each other's concerns in
matters of "core interests".
Xi, who has also assumed the role of
chief of the Communist Party and army,
had said the boundary question was
complex left behind by history and peace
and tranquility should be maintained.
Pending settlement of the issue, both the
countries should not allow differences to
come in the way of overall development
of the bilateral ties.
At the meeting, the Prime Minister
invited President Xi to visit India to
which he said he accepted it and would
make the visit at an appropriate time.
Similarly, the president extended an
invitation to Singh to visit China and he
reciprocated it in a similar vein.
Singh was assisted by national security
adviser Shivshankar Menon while Xi was
assisted by the new foreign minister, two
politburo members and Yang Jeichi, state
counsellor who has replaced Dai Binguo,
who was the special representative with
the Indian SR Menon for the dialogue.
PM Manmohan Singh meets Chinese President Xi Jinping, raises Brahmaputra issue - TOI Mobile | The Times of India Mobile Site