Modi, Xi open talks in Wuhan (Lead)
Wuhan (China) April 27 (IANS) Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday opened their two-day informal talks in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
Modi arrived at the Hubei Provincial Museum at around 3.30 p.m. and warmly shook Xi s hand for 30 seconds. Both leaders were to take a tour of the site for around an hour.
Xi and Modi will hold another meeting at 6 p.m. with delegations from both sides being present. This will be followed by a dinner hosted by the Chinese President.
The talks will be more substantive on Saturday with a walk by the East Lake a boat ride and discussion at the East Lake guesthouse which was once Mao Zedong s private villa.
India and China who fought a brief war in 1962 and have a history of mutual distrust nearly came to an armed conflict near their border in 2017 taking their ties to a new low.
However the "one of its kind" rendezvous between Modi and Xi at the heart of China was a sign enough that the two countries were willing for a new start in their tense relationship.
The meeting was an offshoot of Xi-Modi discussions just after the resolution of the Doklam crisis on the sidelines of BRICS Summit at Xiamen in China.
(Gaurav Sharma can be contacted at sharmagaurav71@gmail.com)
--IANS
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