Possible Jaishankar-Wang meet may lead to Modi-Xi talks

All eyes will be on a possible meeting between external affairs minister S Jaishankar and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi either on Thursday or Friday in Tashkent as that could pave the way for the first in-person talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Uzbekistan mid-September on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.

However, Xi has not travelled abroad since the outbreak of Covid-19 and the SCO summit comes weeks ahead of the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party that may see him get an unprecedented third term as president.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to attend the summit in person.


At the SCO foreign ministers' meeting in Tashkent, Jaishankar will also share the table with his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto for the first time, after the formation of the new coalition government of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) in Islamabad, led by Shehbaz Sharif.

If Jaishankar meets Wang, it would be a follow-up of their meeting in Bali that was followed by the Army commanders' meeting to end the impasse along the Line of Actual Control.In the Bali meeting, Jaishankar called for an early resolution of all the outstanding issues along the LAC in eastern Ladakh.