In October 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping sipped on tender coconut water and took in the sights of Mam...
In October 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping sipped on tender coconut water and took in the sights of Mamallapuram, a seaside town in Tamil Nadu. At one point, Modi is said to have offered Xi a paper napkin, “like a close family member or friend”.
But all was not well. Two months earlier, India had revoked special status for the state of Jammu and Kashmir and split it into two Union Territories, drawing protests from Pakistan and sharp statements from China. It did not help that the government asserted that Aksai Chin, the desolate plateau east of the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, was Indian territory.
The “informal summit” in Mamallapuram was arranged despite rising tensions. Apart from discussions on temple architecture, however, it was not clear what the summit achieved. According to a statement released by the external affairs ministry, the two leaders exchanged niceties on mutual cooperation, regional stability and the need to fight terror. On border issues, they agreed on finding a “fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement”.
Months later, the Indian and Chinese armies were locked in combat in Eastern Ladakh in one of the deadliest clashes since the border war of 1962. Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in...
