Narendra Modi charms Chinese Premier Li Keqiang with Hiuen Tsang story

NEW DELHI: After flooring the neighbourhood by inviting Saarc leaders for his swearing-in, Prime Minister Narendra Modi enthralled Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday when he referred to the memoirs of 7th century Chinese scholar Hiuen Tsang to underline the importance of ties between the two countries.

The conversation took place at the initiative of Li, who wanted to congratulate Modi. The telephone conversation was Modi's first with a foreign head of government since taking over as Prime Minister of India.

Modi told the premier that Hiuen had even visited his village Vadnagar in Gujarat, top government sources told TOI. Modi is apparently familiar with Hiuen's memoirs which he wrote after travelling all over India during his stay of close to 15 years in the country.

Largely forgotten in China, Hiuen is remembered in India for the most authoritative and captivating account of social, economic and political conditions in India in the 7th century.

Modi and Li hit it off so well that the conversation lasted for about 30 minutes.

Modi mentioned Hiuen's visit to his village to emphasize the importance he attached to ties with China. He told Li China would be a priority country for him.

Any talk about the civilizational links between the two countries is incomplete without a reference to Hiuen. By mentioning Hiuen's visit to his village, Modi has in a way made himself central to India's foreign policy imperatives on China.

The government also confirmed after the conversation that foreign minister Sushma Swaraj would meet her counterpart Wang Yi in the second week of June. Wang will come as a special envoy of President Xi Jinping who is expected to visit India later this year. Li said China wanted to have a robust relationship with India.

"Noting that China was always a priority in India's foreign policy, he (Modi) underlined his government's resolve to utilize the full potential of our strategic and cooperative Partnership with China and his keenness to work closely with the Chinese leadership to deal with any outstanding issues in our bilateral relations by proceeding from the strategic perspective of our developmental goals and long-term benefits to our peoples,'' said a press statement. Modi also welcomed greater economic engagement between the two countries.

The two leaders agreed to maintain frequent high-level exchanges and communication. Modi extended an invitation to President Xi Jinping through Premier Li to pay a visit to India later this year.

China probably poses the most serious strategic challenge to Modi in the form of its breakneck speed of growth and its rising influence in the neighbourhood but, it is believed, Modi also sees an economic opening for India in China's growth.

Li congratulated Modi on his victory in the recent general elections and conveyed the Chinese government's desire to establish a robust partnership with the new government of India for further development of relations between the two nations.