No frostiness in Indo-China ties, says Ram Madhav

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day China visit has "accomplished" the purpose of creating greater bonhomie between the two Asian giants, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav said as he asserted that there was no "frostiness" in Indo-China ties.

"The way in which the interactions have happened in the past two days shows that the purpose for which the meeting was planned has been accomplished. Greater bonhomie, greater effort at mutual understanding and greater rapport between the leaders has been achieved," he told PTI on the sidelines of an event here this evening.

When asked if the talks at Chinese President Xi Jinping's hometown Wuhan would help avoid standoffs like the recent Doklam face-off, Madhav said, "There is no longer any frostiness in our relationship; it has all gone".

The BJP leader said the process of addressing the bilateral concerns was on and that the just-concluded informal meeting between the two leaders would be of much help.

When asked about what should be the next logical step in this direction, he pointed out that Modi would be travelling for the next Shanghai Cooperation Organisation leaders' meet in June.

Modi wrapped up his two-day visit to the central Chinese city today and returned to the national capital this evening.

Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said Modi and Xi have decided to issue a "strategic guidance" to their militaries to strengthen communications and to build trust and understanding, which will help avoid Dokalam-like situations in the future.

Gokhale said Modi's talks with Xi focused on diverse areas of Indio-China cooperation.

"We discussed ways to give impetus to our economic ties as well as people-to-people relations. Other areas we spoke about include agriculture, technology, energy and tourism," Gokhale said.

The foreign secretary also said the two leaders underscored the importance of maintaining peace and tranquillity in all areas of the border in the larger interest of the overall development of bilateral ties.