PM Modi to travel to Uzbekistan to attend SCO Summit, no clarity on talks with Prez Xi
The Ministry of External Affairs stated that the Prime Minister is “likely to hold” to hold a “few bilateral meetings”, but there was no clarity over any talks with Chinese President Xi.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Summit from 15th to 16th September in Uzbekistan’s historic city of Samarkand.
The Ministry of External Affairs stated that the Prime Minister is “likely to hold” to hold a “few bilateral meetings”, but there was no clarity over any talks with Chinese President Xi.
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MEA has not ruled out the possibility of bilateral talks between PM Modi and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Summit.
The speculation over a bilateral meeting with Xi has gotten higher lately due to the announcement and disengagement of both armies at patrol point 15 in the Gogra Hotsprings sector. Both leaders have not had any face-to-face bilateral talks since the standoff started in April 2020.
Former ambassador Vishnu Prakash said: “With the borders still alive, the prime minister is likely to meet Xi only if some agreement on restoring status quo ante is in hand or if the Chinese side seeks it. Else, it may serve little purpose other than giving bragging rights to the Chinese leader.”
He added, “At this stage, the meeting can only be about the vacation of Chinese aggression.”
Xi Jinping will have his first foreign trip since the outbreak of the pandemic as he visits Kazakhstan on the 14th of September before attending the SCO Summit in Uzbekistan. In Samarkand, Xi and Putin will meet for the first time since the commencement of the conflict in Ukraine. After the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) Summit in Brasilia in November 2019, Xi and Modi last had a private meeting.
