China, India Coordinate Policy for Upcoming G20 and BRICS Summits

PRESS RELEASE

China, India Prep for Upcoming G20 and BRICS Summits

Aug. 14, 2016 (EIRNS)—Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has just completed a three-day visit to India, Aug. 12-14, which began with a one-hour meeting with Laxmikant Parsekar, the Chief Minister of the state of Goa (where the eighth BRICS summit will be held), and ended with in-depth discussions in New Delhi with both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. As Wang told journalists at the conclusion of his visit,

"the major aim of this trip was to conduct strategic communication with India ahead of the G20 summit scheduled next month in China and the BRICS summit to be held in India in October,"

Xinhua reported.

Both sides were upbeat about their coordination around the two summits (the G20 in Huangzhou, China on Sept. 4-5, and the BRICS in Goa, India on Oct. 15-16), and stated that ongoing bilateral issues between the two countries would be handled in the context of that strategic joint policy. Xinhua paraphrases Wang Yi’s comments after meeting Modi on Aug. 13:

"Wang stressed that, amid the challenges that the global economy currently faces, it is highly important to ensure the successful organization of the G20 and BRICS summits. China is willing to boost mutual support with India for this end, he said."

Xinhua added that

"The two sides agreed to strengthen mutual support over the successful organization of the upcoming G20 and BRICS summit.... Common interests between China and India far exceed their differences."

Xinhua stated that

"Modi said he cherishes the friendship with Chinese leaders [and] noted that India attaches great importance to relations with China, and the stance of viewing and treating the bilateral relations from a strategic height."

After his three-hour meeting with External Affairs Minister Swaraj, Wang also stressed their policy unity on the two upcoming summits, "to elevate the status and role of emerging economies on the world arena." He added that

"the complementariness of the two economies has been further tapped and a win-win cooperation pattern is taking shape"

between the two nations, and that China and India

"have been making remarkable and comprehensive headway in recent years, thanks to joint efforts by both sides,"

Xinhua reported. Wang added that

"the two sides have strengthened strategic dialogue and safeguarded the common interest of emerging markets and developing countries."

Swaraj concurred, noting that "India attaches great importance to ties with China," and both sides had promised to "refrain from allowing differences over singular issues to baffle the general cooperation," Xinhua wrote.