Ahmedabad: Chinese president Xi Jinping arrived in Gujarat to a grand welcome for a three-day India visit aimed at ramping up trade and investment. His visit comes in the middle of a new face-off at the contested border between India and China at the Line of Actual Control.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who celebrates his 64th birthday today, is in Ahmedabad to welcome Xi. This is the first visit to India by a Chinese president since 2006.
A traditional Gujarati dance greeted President Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan, who were welcomed by Chief Minister Anandiben Patel.
PM Modi and President Xi will share a moonlight dinner tonight in a Swiss luxury tent on the banks of the river Sabarmati. Xi will be treated to a 150-dish Gujarati banquet and will also join PM Modi on a walk down the riverfront.
The Chinese president’s visit comes in the middle of a new face-off at the border after more than 200 soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army reportedly crossed into Indian territory in Ladakh earlier this week and set about building a 2-km road at the Chumur sector.
India took a strong stand at a flag meeting initiated by China on Tuesday and said it would firmly defend its 3,500-km border with the country. The meeting was inconclusive. Another meeting may be held today, say sources.
The decades-old border conflict is expected to figure in talks between PM Modi and Xi in Delhi. In a newspaper article today, the Chinese President said, “Progress has been made in the negotiations on the boundary question. The two sides are working together to maintain peace.”
The two leaders are expected to sign pacts on infrastructure, railways and a sister city agreement between Ahmedabad and China’s Guangdong province.
On Tuesday, PM Modi said the relationship between the two countries “goes beyond plain arithmetic”, and summed up ties with a new mantra – “Inch (India and China) towards Miles (Millennium of Exceptional Energy).”
PM Modi is determined to build closer relations with the world’s second-largest economy, whose leader comes with pledges to invest billions of dollars in railways, industrial parks and roads.
In a sign that India wants the Xi visit to be a success, New Delhi has reportedly asked Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to reschedule an event so that it would not clash with the Chinese president’s trip to the capital.
Recently, during a visit to Japan, Mr Modi was seen to have taken a swipe at China when he said foreign policy based on expansionism and maritime incursions are the signs of “18th-century” thought.
