Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will have their high-stakes and much-awaited bilateral meeting later in the day on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi. Ahead of it, Beijing sent out a message of "good neighbourliness", stressing that both the Asian giants should focus on their long-term friendship and "properly handle differences".
This will be Xi's first visit to India in seven years, even as both Beijing and New Delhi continue their cautious efforts in normalising diplomatic relations after the 2020 Galwan clash and the Arunachal Pradesh issue.
Commenting on the meeting, Chinese envoy to India Xu Feihong said that Beijing will work with New Delhi towards a strategic betterment of ties between the two nations.
"China will work with India to act on the strategic guidance of the two leaders, handle the bilateral relations from a strategic height and long-term perspective, step up communication, enhance cooperation, properly handle differences, and be friends enjoying good neighborliness and partners helping each other succeed," Xu tweeted.
The bilateral meeting between PM Modi and Xi would mark the third consecutive year that the two leaders met, following their meetings in Kazan and Tianjin.
The Chinese President is scheduled to land in New Delhi at around 1 pm, and the bilateral meeting with PM Modi will happen at 5.45 pm.
CHINA STRESSES COMMUNICATION, COOPERATION
China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning echoed Xu in stressing "good neighbourliness".
Mao also said that China was ready to work with BRICS countries to settle disputes through dialogue and negotiation and contribute to peace and stability amid the Iran-US conflict and the Russia-Ukraine war.
She said BRICS had emerged as a key platform for emerging markets and developing countries and had become "a real force standing at the forefront of the Global South".
India, as the current chair of BRICS, is hosting the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12 and 13.
Xi's first visit to India was in September 2014. He then again visited India to attend the BRICS Summit in Goa in 2016, and his last visit was in 2019 for an informal summit with PM Modi in Mamallapuram near Chennai.
Source: India Today