PM Modi, Chinese President Xi meet in Bali, first time in public view since Ladakh standoff

While there was no substantive readout on their conversation — captured by the cameras at the G20 summit dinner —sources said the “Prime Minister and President Xi Jinping, who were both attending the G20 dinner hosted by the Indonesian President, exchanged courtesies at the conclusion of the dinner”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping greeting each other at the G20 summit. (Video screengrab/ ANI)

IN THEIR first meeting in public view since the India-China border standoff began in 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping shook hands and spoke to each other at the G20 summit in Bali on Tuesday.

Read in Explained | G20 Summit: What’s at stake?

While there was no substantive readout on their conversation — captured by the cameras at the G20 summit dinner —sources said the “Prime Minister and President Xi Jinping, who were both attending the G20 dinner hosted by the Indonesian President, exchanged courtesies at the conclusion of the dinner”.

#WATCH | Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Chinese President Xi Jinping and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at G20 dinner hosted by Indonesian President Joko Widodo in Bali, Indonesia.

(Source: Reuters) pic.twitter.com/nZorkq4R1Y

— ANI (@ANI) November 15, 2022

This was the first time the two leaders were seen interacting in public view since their last meeting in Brazil in November 2019, on the sidelines of the BRICS summit. In October 2019, Xi had visited India for an informal summit in Mahabalipuram.

In September this year, the two leaders attended the SCO summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, but there were no photographs or statements about a meeting between them.

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In Bali, the handshake took place towards the end of the dinner. The two leaders greeted each other as Xi walked by. They shook hands and the video showed a brief relaxed conversation, before the camera moved elsewhere and the transmission ended.

The dinner was held at the Garuda Wisnu Kencana cultural park in a somewhat informal setting. The G20 leaders watched dance performances as they dined.

While there are no bilateral meetings scheduled with Xi, Modi will meet French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Indonesian President Joao Widodo, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and leaders from Singapore, Spain, Italy for bilateral meetings on Wednesday.

Shubhajit Roy

Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting on foreign affairs for more than 17 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism ‘2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury’s special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban’s capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More

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