Chinese president Xi Jinping is arriving in India for a 3-day visit to boost trade and sign investment agreements with India. He will arrive on September 17 in Ahmedabad, the capital of Gujarat, which Modi was the Chief Minister of for 12 years, before he became the Prime Minister. Though the two heads of state may also discuss several pain points and border issues, the India-China conflict is unlikely to be resolved soon since, even as Jinping will be meeting Modi, a face-off between the two armies is currently playing out in Kashmir. Facts About India reports that India and China share a 2000 mile border, and tensions are high along many parts of it, especially to the east in state of Arunachal Pradesh and to the North in Kashmir.
This is the first visit since 2006 by a Chine President to India. Modi and Xi will be spending time together on the banks of the Sabarmati river in Gujarat for a dinner, before moving onto more serious issues. The Chinese President had earlier said regarding the border issues, “Progress has been made in the negotiations on the boundary question. The two sides are working together to maintain peace.”
Jinping will be eager to finalize several deals in the sectors of infrastructure and railways. Jinping had reportedly promised to invest in building bullet train infrastructure in India. Modi will also be eager to bring Chinese expertise into the field to help him speed up India’s growth story. Bilateral trade between the two countries reportedly stands at just 65 Bilion USD currently.
Modi has coined the phrase Inch Towards Miles, where Inch refers to India-China and Miles refers to Millennium of Exceptional Energy, to describe the partnership between the two nations.
Modi has been on a big foreign-relationship engagement over the last 100 days, and recently visited Japan, where he took a swipe at China’s expansionist ideas.