Journalism of Courage
Unlike the perception that top Chinese leaders must be jet-setting in private planes, Chinese Foreign minister Wang Yi was travelling in a commercial plane on Thursday night.
He took the China Eastern Airlines flight (MU 2119) at 10.35 pm from Xi’an and reached Beijing at 12.35 pm. He was in Xi’an when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping.
He flew late on Thursday, so that he could be there for the talks between Modi and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
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When The Indian Express asked him on the flight about how Modi’s trip was going, he said, “It’s good. But we have tomorrow left when the Indian PM will meet Premier Li.”
Wang, who was the first Chinese interlocutor to come to India as Xi’s envoy in June last year after Modi’s historic victory, was sitting in seat 6A of the aircraft. He had also met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in February this year, as part of the preparations for Modi’s visit.
Accompanied by nine officials, he was reading through his brief for the talks even as majority of his aides were seen relaxing on the two-hour flight after a hectic day.
“He is very thorough with his homework before such an important bilateral meeting. He doesn’t miss any detail,” an aide told The Indian Express, as this reporter was on the same flight.
