Amid bonhomie, China won’t push India to join BRI

For a change, PM Narendra Modi kept in check his proclivity to hug foreign leaders when he met Chinese President Xi Jinping over two days here. Xi though more than made up for it with his hospitality which saw him stating towards the end that as President he had stepped out of Beijing to receive a foreign leader only twice and that Modi was his guest on both occasions.

The first occasion was in Xi’an in 2015 where he had met Modi. A source here said the mood in the meetings was perfectly encapsulated in the instrumental cover of a popular Bollywood song from the 80s — ‘Hon na juda yeh wada raha’ — by a Chinese orchestra at Xi’s dinner for Modi.


Behind this show of bonhomie, which included almost an hour-long boat ride for Xi and Modi, the two leaders did look at all major outstanding issues in detail, not least the vexed border issue.

Of particular significance was the “strategic guidance” to the militaries to built trust and mutual understanding as it was meant to prevent Doklam-like incidents in future. Building upon the Astana consensus of 2017, the Chinese side said in a statement that both countries had the “maturity and wisdom” to handle differences through peaceful discussion and by respecting each other’s concerns and aspirations.

“The two militaries will strengthen confidencebuilding measures and enhance communication and cooperation to uphold border peace and tranquility,” said China’s vice foreign minister Kong Xuanyou.

Importantly, Kong said China was not going to push India to become a part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). He said actually there was no disagreement in principle between India and China on connectivity issues. “The two counties indeed are expanding their cooperation on connectivity. Personally I don’t think it is important to see if India accepts the expression of the BRI,” said Kong.

“There is a number of cooperation projects in the region, there will be more in the pipeline which may involve a third party which is in keeping with the spirit of the BRI,” he added.

However, he said the two countries had agreed to work together in the neighbourhood in what he described as China and India plus One (third country) format.

Indian officials maintained throughout the visit though that on BRI, there can be no change in India’s position until CPEC, which passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, remains a part of it.