NEW DELHI (Sputnik) — The Modi-Xi meeting comes at a time when bilateral ties between India and China are experiencing major disagreements over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and India's bid for membership to the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group.
During his meeting with President Xi, Modi stressed that both sides must enhance their potential for cooperation, strengthen communication and coordination on international affairs, and respect each other's core concerns and aptly handle their disputes. The Indian PM also thanked China for its support in the country's accession to the SCO.
"The two sides should strengthen the complementarities of development strategies and press ahead with the major cooperation projects such as energy and railways," PTI quoted Hua Chunying, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, as saying. Chunying also said the two sides should push the BCIM (Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar Corridor), which China considers as part of its Belt and Road Initiative.
Experts said despite Modi-Xi meet, it doesn't look very optimistic in hoping that disagreements between the two countries will be resolved in New Delhi's favor especially over the NSG membership bid and Pakistan-based Maulana Masood Azhar's designation as terrorist by the UN.
"India is unlikely to get NSG membership in this month's plenary at Berne and China sticks to its ‘two-step' approach strategy. India has the support of major countries like the US, Russia, the UK and others, but China is less likely to give in to their pressure. With US President Donald Trump, we can't be sure of a backing from the White House as well. India may have to ultimately come to an understanding on Pakistan's membership within the NSG, it seems," Swaran Singh, Professor of International Relations, at the New Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University and a noted expert on India-China relations, told Sputnik.
After Astana, Modi and Xi will attend several multilateral summit meeting including the Hamburg G20 summit to be held next month in Germany followed by the Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) summit to be held in Xiamen, China in September.