Beijing: Ties between India and China are set for a "very active" year with likely visits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping to each other's country even as the relationship remains complex due to the unresolved boundary dispute, the Indian envoy has said.
India's outgoing envoy Ashok K Kantha, who will be retiring on January 6, said 2016 will be marked by high level visits as Modi is expected to visit China to take part in G-20 summit to be held in east China's Hangzhou city while Xi may visit India to participate in the BRICS summit. "2016 will be a very active year with two big visits at the highest level.
China is hosting G20 summit at Hangzhou and India will host the BRICS leaders' meeting. Top leaders are expected to attend the summits," Kantha, who will be succeeded by Indian Ambassador to Germany Vijay Keshav Gokhale, told the Indian media.
The expected high-level trips come in the backdrop of highly successful visits of Xi to India in 2014 and Modi to Beijing in 2015, reflecting the buoyant state of ties which have seen all round development of cooperation in the last few years including in security and defence areas besides trade and investment, Kantha said.
2015 was also marked by high levels visits. Besides Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited China while Finance Minister Arun Jaitley visited Hong Kong. Also, Politburo-level officials of the ruling Communist Party of China visited India, Kantha said. This year's interactions will begin with the visit National Security Advisor Ajit Doval who is expected to be in Beijing on a two-day visit starting on January 5.
He is due to meet his counterpart and China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi and Premier Li Keqiang. Doval's visit is part of the "architecture for strategic communication" set up by both countries, Kantha said. He also clarified that Doval's visit is not to take part in Special Representative talks on the border issue. "He is coming for strategic consultations," Kantha said declining to provide details.
Yang and Doval are designated Special Representatives for border talks. So far the two sides have held 18 rounds of border talks. But despite the all round progress, it still remains an uneasy relationship due to the unresolved boundary issue, Kantha said. "It is a complex relationship. There are issues like the boundary question," he said without elaborating.
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