Modi-Xi Meet Focuses on Strengthening Commonalities, Respecting Core Concerns

© AP Photo / Kim Kyung-HoonIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping. (File)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping. (File) - Sputnik International
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday underlined the need to "respect each other's core concerns and appropriately handle the disputes," during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit.

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.

June 9, 2017. President Vladimir Putin poses for photographs with the participants of the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). From left: President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of China Xi Jinping, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev. From right: President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon. - Sputnik International
Putin Predicts SCO Gaining More Influence as India, Pakistan Join Bloc

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.

Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). - Sputnik International
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India last month did not accept Chinese invite to attend the Belt and Road Initiative meeting held in Beijing, which was attended by 29 world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. New Delhi's objection the Belt and Road Initiative, which is also called One Belt, One Road (OBOR) or Silk Route et al, stems from the fact that one of the strands of the trillion-dollar project passes through Gilgit and Baltistan in the Pakistani side of Kashmir, which India claims as its own territory.

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.

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