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Xi plans India visit, as diplomatic chess with U.S. intensifies

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Xi plans India visit, as diplomatic chess with US intensifies

Trip expected as early as February, in bid to bolster ties with Modi

OKI NAGAI and YUJI KURONUMA

JANUARY 22, 2019

https%3A%2F%2Fs3-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com%2Fpsh-ex-ftnikkei-3937bb4%2Fimages%2F4%2F0%2F9%2F2%2F18992904-8-eng-GB%2FCropped-1548128003RTX5ZIKB.jpg

Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their April 2018 summit.

BEIJING/NEW DELHI -- Chinese President Xi Jinping intends to visit India as early as February, Nikkei has learned, in a move seen at countering Washington's increasingly antagonistic trade policy and aggressive Indo-Pacific diplomacy.

Xi is expected to discuss with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi measures to defuse border tensions, as well as propose deals to expand imports of Indian farm products and increase cooperation in advanced technologies, according to sources.

The sources say Xi hopes to visit ahead of India's general elections due by May. An Indian source said the visit would be in February at the earliest, but a Chinese source said it will be after China's National People's Congress in March.

The visit, whenever it occurs, offers Modi a golden opportunity to show voters a diplomatic victory ahead of an election in which he likely faces an uphill fight.

When Modi took office in 2014, he broke with the Indian tradition of treating all sides equally. The prime minister chose to draw closer to the U.S., Europe and Japan, while distancing India somewhat from China.

Tensions between China and India flared in summer 2017, with troops facing off across the border for three months. Modi's leadership during that period impressed Indian voters. A source from the ruling coalition described Modi as a strong leader who "did not give up an inch" to the People's Liberation Army.

Since spring of last year, Modi has pivoted to a more China-friendly trajectory during the run-up to the elections. Modi is making it a point to touch upon foreign policy during his campaign speeches. By adopting that strategy, the voters will see Modi as a prime minister other world leaders cannot ignore -- a figure who is putting India on the global map, said Sanjay Kumar, director of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies.

The meeting also could result in more Chinese imports of Indian agricultural products, including soybeans.

Bolstering ties with New Delhi could provide China an alternative supplier to the U.S. for advanced technologies, given India's highly developed information technology sector. Worried that worsening relations with Washington might restrict the supply of critical components, Beijing has sought to expand connections in this field with its South Asian neighbor.

Last year, China set up an IT corridor in the southwestern city of Guiyang to encourage Indian tech companies to set up shop in the country. Guiyang's year-round cool temperatures, thanks to high altitudes, have made it a hub for big data projects.

Xi's visit will also help China counter U.S. President Donald Trump's Indo-Pacific strategy of deepening cooperation with Japan, India, Australia and other regional players to curb China's influence. But Chinese military sources say the Trump administration has yet to finalize its strategy, giving Xi an opening to dissuade Modi from joining the U.S.-led anti-China coalition.

Still, it is unclear whether China-India relations will pan out as Xi hopes. The territorial dispute remains a sticking point, and there are reports that India is planning a massive road construction project along the border. New Delhi is also wary of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative, having not sent senior officials to the first international forum about the initiative hosted by China in 2017.

Should India refuse to take part in the second forum scheduled for April this year, the rift between the two countries could widen.

China's strategy for India resembles the way it improved ties with Japan. When Xi met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the Russian city of Vladivostok last September, the Chinese president said he was looking forward to Abe's visit to China the next month.

The two met again in October in Beijing, one week before the leadership election of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, a contest that Abe eventually won.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/In...visit-as-diplomatic-chess-with-US-intensifies
 
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Xi seems to have identified the US as the ultimate ennemy, he's willing to compromise with all its pseudo allies like India and Japan in order to weaken the US containment plans. It's working great for now, the US can't even get Australia to firmly follow them on their anti China campaign.
 
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No proposal for Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit India before elections
By PTI | Jan 23, 2019, 08.15 PM IST

BEIJING: There is no proposal for Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit India for the second informal summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the next two months as speculated by a Japanese media report, highly placed sources said here Wednesday.

Japanese publication Nikkei Asian Review on Tuesday carried a report titled "Xi plans India visit, as diplomatic chess with US intensifies".

The story said, "Xi intends to visit India as early as February in a move seen at countering Washington's increasingly antagonistic trade policy and aggressive Indo-Pacific diplomacy."

According to the report, Xi is expected to discuss with Modi measures to defuse border tensions as well as propose deals to expand imports of Indian farm products and increase cooperation in advanced technologies.

"Xi hopes to visit ahead of India's general elections due by May. An Indian source said the visit would be in February at the earliest, but a Chinese source said it will be after China's National People's Congress in March," it said.

Reacting to the report, official sources here told PTI that there is no such proposal for President Xi to visit India in the next two months after which India is poised for general elections.

In view of this, the visit by the Chinese President is expected to take place after the polls and after the new government takes charge, the sources said, adding that no preparations were currently underway for such a high-level visit.

Xi's visit to India is due in 2019 after the informal summit between him and Modi at Wuhan in April last year. Both the sides had made it an institutional arrangement for such summits to take place every year to improve relations.

Wuhan summit was the first such high-level meeting ever between Indian and Chinese leaders. It was conceived by both the sides following the 2017 military standoff at Doklam which ratcheted up tensions between the two countries.

The two-day summit at Wuhan during which the two leaders closely interacted for hours on bilateral and international issues has paved the way for the two countries to normalise relations on all fronts putting behind the Doklam standoff.

Since then the two countries steadily normalised relations with intensified dialogue on various fronts, including the military and trade fronts.

Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan has concluded his two-day visit to China on Tuesday after talks with Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen and Zhang Jiwen, Chinese Vice Minister of General Administration of Customs of China (GACC), to enhance Indian exports to China to reduce the trade deficit of over USD 57 billion.

https://m.economictimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/no-proposal-for-chinese-president-xi-jinping-to-visit-india-before-elections/amp_articleshow/67660723.cms

It is clearly important for China to keep the momentum of building trust with India but visiting right before the general election seems highly doubtful. Hopefully a visit after the election will take place though.
 
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Let's drill a tunnel connecting India and China.
If the elephant and the dragon can cooperate, the 21st century will ours.
 
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We welcome our powerful neighbour's leader and may the visit be fruitful. :cheers:

Look's like it will be first major foreign visit for Mr. Xi after Chinese new year.

@GeraltofRivia @Chinese-Dragon @long_ @rott @serenity @hiseen @TaiShang
Welcome.athiti devo bhava. This time if ur red chaddi pla try to sneak in our territory while u njoy ur time playing on swing ..red chadiis will be roasted.
Get pla generals into reducation camp before u leave bejing.
 
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