Modi-Xi will not sign agreements at Wuhan Summit: China

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will not sign any agreements or issue a joint statement at the Wuhan summit this week but they will try to build mutual trust and reach important consensus to resolve the outstanding issues, a top Chinese official said on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Modi will travel to China on April 27 for an informal summit to be held from April 27 to 28 with President Xi in central China's Wuhan city.

This informal summit is the first of its kind and there is no precedent in each other's country, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou said, explaining why both the leaders opted to hold the summit.

"At the informal summit, the two leaders will have heart-to-heart discussions on overarching issues and try to build mutual trust and consensus to resolve outstanding differences," Kong said.

Asked whether the Dokalam issue and the boundary dispute will figure in the talks, Kong said Dokalam happened because of lack of trust.

"The two countries need to create conditions and trust between them to resolve the boundary issue," he added.

Kong said both President Xi and Prime Minister Modi have strategic vision and historical responsibility.

"Both of them have been widely supported by their people. Both leaders have attached great importance to India-China relationship and have devoted a lot of energy to grow this relationship.

"Over the past few years, they met 10 times, visited each other's capitals and hometowns. They also met at multilateral occasions," he said, adding that every time they had very good talks and reached important consensus.

At the informal summit, they will have in-depth exchange of views on the issues of overarching long-term and strategic importance in the bilateral relations, he said.

Such exchange of views will deepen the mutual trust between the two countries, set the direction and set objectives for the further growth of bilateral ties. It will also open up new prospects in China-India cooperation. Such informal summit will not only benefit the two countries and people but will also deliver peace and development in the region and beyond, he said.