BackLive: Narendra Modi, Xi Jinping begin talks in Xi’an
Modi starts his three-day visit to China today with Xi'an tour
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Xi’an: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday arrived on a three-day visit to China during which he will hold summit talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping on a range of issues including the festering border dispute and China’s plans for infrastructure projects in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Modi is being accompanied by national security advisor Ajit Doval, foreign secretary S. Jaishankar and senior officials. Here are the live updates:
6:18pm: According to Narendra Modi’s official website, The Prime Minister “presents President Xi Jinping replicas of a stone casket of Buddhist relics and a stone statue of Buddha that were excavated from a 3rd-4th century AD stupa at Dev-ni-Mori—a site 80 kms east of Vadnagar, Gujarat—in 1957."
4:54pm: PM Modi gets a traditional welcome at the Ancient City Gate of Xi’an.
3:55pm: The Big Wild Goose Pagoda assumes historical significance for India as it depicts the Chinese scholar and traveller Xuanzang who travelled to India and is recorded to have visited Nalanda.
3:15pm: Foreign secretary S. Jaishankar says Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed ways to strengthen trust between two countries and called the meeting “very substantive". Modi, Xi discussed boundary issues, peace and tranquility as well as ways to address trade imbalance, Jaishankar said. Talks also centered around aid for victims of the Nepal earthquake, terrorism, UN security council reforms and India’s membership in the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG).
3:00pm: PM Modi and President Xi after their meeting make a visit to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, an important seventh century Buddhist shrine built during the Tang Dynasty era in Xi’an.
1:00pm: Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping began summit-level talks during which the two leaders are expected to discuss a host of issues, including the contentious boundary dispute and China’s plans for infrastructure projects in PoK.
Xi warmly welcomed Modi at the Shaanxi Guest House in Xi’an as the two leaders shook hands for photographs. In his opening remarks, Modi appreciated the Chinese leader for warmly receiving him outside Beijing. “This is an honour to 125 crore Indians whom I am representing as Prime Minister," said Modi, who was wearing a black bandhgala suit. Recalling his visit to Ahmedabad in September last year, President Xi said, “You received me very warmly in your hometown. I am very glad to receive you in my hometown." While Modi spoke in Hindi, Xi made his remarks in Chinese.
11:30am: Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to join Modi in Shaanxi later, reciprocating after Modi hosted Xi in Gujarat last year.
Modi will then head to Beijing and China’s financial hub Shanghai, seeking to deliver on election promises to attract foreign investment for India’s crumbling rail and other infrastructure.
11:00am: Revolutionary changes could take place in Asia if China and India forge closer ties overcoming mistrust, the Chinese state media said as Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his three-day visit to the country.
“Anyone with some geopolitical knowledge understands what revolutionary changes would happen to the political and economic landscape in Asia if China and India could join hands to forge ahead," an article in the state-run Global Times said. “But people are also aware that there seems always to be a lack of mutual trust between the dragon and the elephant," the article said.
Noting that China is the world’s largest textile exporter followed by India, it said the ranking implies where the Sino-Indian relationship stands and unveils one of the reasons for “the lack of trust—there is more competition than complementarity".
10:00am: After visiting the Terracotta Warriors museum, Narendra Modi is now at the Daxingshan Temple in Xi’an.
8:30am: Modi began his day with a visit to the famous Terracotta Warriors museum which has a large collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China.
The Prime Minister spent about an hour going around the museum. He also enquired about the excavation work being undertaken there. In the visitors book, Modi wrote that he was “deeply impressed" by the extraordinary care with which the museum has been preserved.
The museum complex houses the ‘Terracotta Army’ or the ‘Terracotta Warriors and Horses’, a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin. The museum complex, a UN world heritage site, also houses Qin’s mausoleum. The visit to the museum was Modi’s first official engagement in Shaanxi province’s Xi’an, an ancient city steeped in Chinese and Buddhist culture.
5am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in China on a three-day visit. His plane, Air India One, landed in the ancient city of Xi’an.
12am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday left for China on an official visit focused on boosting trade ties between Asia’s rival superpowers and setting aside their historic mistrust.
Modi’s office tweeted a picture of him waving from an Air India plane, marking his departure for the three-day trip to China, his first as prime minister. Read more.
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