Chinese President’s Mamalapuram Visit (informal) to India

Recently, Chinese President, Xi Jinping paid an informal visit to India.

Outcomes of the Mamallapuram Summit are:

• Exchange of views on long-term and strategic issues of global and regional importance.

• Shared their respective approaches towards national development.
• Discussed how India-China bilateral interaction can be deepened to reflect the growing role of both countries on the global stage.
• India and China share the common objective of working for a peaceful, secure and prosperous world in which all countries can pursue their development within a rules-based international order.
• They reiterated the consensus reached during the first Informal Summit in Wuhan, China in April 2018, that India and China are factors for stability in the current international landscape and that both side will prudently manage their differences and not allow differences on any issue to become disputes.
• The Leaders recognized that India and China have a common interest in preserving and advancing a rules-based and inclusive international order.
• Concerns to address global developmental challenges, including climate change and the Sustainable Development Goals.
• Both recognized the importance of continuing to make joint efforts to ensure that the international community strengthens the framework against training, financing and supporting terrorist groups throughout the world and on a non-discriminatory basis.
• As important contemporary civilizations with great traditions, both Leaders deemed it important to enhance dialogue in order to foster cultural understanding between the two peoples.
• They also agreed on the importance of concluding negotiations for a mutually-beneficial and balanced Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
• The two leaders agreed on establishment of sister-state relations between Tamil Nadu and Fujian Province, exploring the possibility of establishing an academy to study links between Mahabalipuram and Fujian province on the lines of the experience between Ajanta and Dunhuang and conducting research on maritime links between China and India in view of our extensive contacts over the centuries.
• The two Leaders shared their mutual vision on goals for development of their respective economies. They agreed that the simultaneous development of India and China presents mutually-beneficial opportunities.
• In pursuit of their efforts to further deepen economic cooperation and to enhance their closer development partnership, the two Leaders have decided to establish a High-Level Economic and Trade Dialogue mechanism with the objective of achieving enhanced trade and commercial relations, as well as to better balance the trade between the two countries
• The two Leaders have exchanged views on outstanding issues, including on the boundary question.

• It is an advance over Wuhan and has established a bilateral grid that suits the security and economic strategy of India.
• It is a "new set of consensus" including "guiding principles" on giving a new direction to the bilateral ties.
• The two biggest nations could successfully explore the areas of detente and cooperation independently of the third party influence.
• The two summits acknowledge that India and China were not 'adversaries' but two large economic powers open to a healthy competition in a multipolar world.
• Speed breakers that the Trump Presidency has created for the unfettered advantage accruing to China in its trade with US in the past would lead President Xi Jinping to an effort to retrieve whatever trade benefit it could continue getting from the Indian market. A trade deficit of over $52 billion confronting India in relation to China should get Xi to realise that things would not be the same again and that a pragmatic approach to India-China trade relations alone could serve the interests of China.
• India has activated its participation in QUAD but the focus of this US-Japan- India-Australia convergence is so far on maintenance of 'rules based regime' in the Indo-Pacific maritime zone.
• Since Wuhan, India's Look East policy has strengthened our friendship with many countries in the East and this also works to India's advantage.
• India's willingness to work for a 'balance of power' to ensure global peace has been in evidence in the recent period. All of this provided a backdrop to the Mamallapuram summit that favoured the pursuit of understanding and de-emphasised friction.