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Xi and Modi Meet, Focus on Trade, Border

Anjana Pasricha

   NEW DELHI - Indian and Chinese leaders at an informal summit Saturday
   sidestepped their differences and said they will tackle a huge trade
   deficit that has been troubling India, and enhance measures to
   strengthen border security.
   In the coastal heritage town of Mamallapuram in southern India, where
   the two leaders met, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that "we
   have decided to manage our differences prudently," and not let them
   become "disputes." He said both sides will remain sensitive to each
   other's concerns so that the relationship "will be a source of peace
   and stability in the world."
   Without elaborating, Chinese President Xi Jinping said "we have engaged
   in candid discussions as friends," as they sat down for talks.
   Their sharp differences over the disputed region of Kashmir that came
   to the fore in the weeks ahead of the summit did not figure into the
   one-on-one talks held for several hours between Xi and Modi, according
   to Indian officials.
   China has strongly backed Pakistan in raising strong objections to
   India's move to scrap autonomy in the disputed Himalayan region,
   angering New Delhi, which says it is its internal affair.
   Saying that there had been "visible progress" since Modi and Xi held
   their first informal summit in China last year, Indian Foreign
   Secretary Vijay Gokhale told reporters that the summit had underlined
   that "there is no fundamental disruption and there is a forward-looking
   trajectory," in their ties.

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