Narendra Modi, Xi Jinping to discuss economic ties and border disputes
Indian premier first fetes Chinese president in his home state of Gujarat
President Xi Jinping begins talks in New Delhi today on boosting economic ties and resolving festering border disputes between India and China, after receiving a warm welcome from Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his home state yesterday.
Modi hosted a dinner with Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, on the banks of the Sabarmati River in Ahmedabad, the main city in Modi's home state of Gujarat, on what was his 64th birthday.
Xi and Modi left Gujarat for the capital after the dinner, which featured 150 Gujarati dishes.
Watch: China's Xi makes maiden India visit, seeking to reset ties
The two leaders will hold formal talks today on an agenda that includes cooperation on developing high-speed railways and their border disputes in the eastern Himalayas, where the two nations fought a war in 1962.
New Delhi has eased restrictions on construction in areas up to 100 kilometres from the disputed border, allowing the Indian military to build roads and other infrastructure in territory that China claims as its own.
New Delhi Television reported that more than 200 Chinese soldiers had crossed into Indian territory in Ladakh this week, and a meeting between the two nations on Tuesday had not produced conclusive results.
"China-India relations have become one of the most dynamic and promising bilateral relations in the 21st century."
Xi said the two nations faced "historic opportunities" and China could contribute to India's infrastructure.
The Canada-based reported that since October the Chinese military had begun withdrawing almost all of its main fleet of J-10 and J-11 fighters from the Xigaze air force base in Tibet close to the disputed border.
Military experts said the move signalled Beijing's desire to make a goodwill gesture to New Delhi in the aftermath of a "tent confrontation" between Chinese and Indian border troops that lasted for three weeks in April.
Tensions rose as India claimed Chinese troops had trespassed on its territory and pitched tents on the western sector of the Sino-Indian border.
Li Jie, a Beijing-based military observer, said the Chinese side was keen for Xi and Modi to establish a personal rapport, especially given Modi's efforts to engage China since taking office in May. One example of this engagement was India's application to be a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional security bloc led by China and Russia, Li said.
"Beijing believes that Modi will not make any moves that will embarrass China," he said.
Antony Wong Dong, a Macau-based military affairs commentator, said the withdrawal of the fighters from the Xigaze base would not have a big impact on China's military might because its air force and the Second Artillery Corps could return to the Himalayas at any time.
"In order to prevent India walking too closely with Japan, Beijing has to ease its border tensions with New Delhi," Wong said.
Zhao Gancheng, from the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, said both sides were expected to stress that they could still cooperate despite the lingering border disputes.
Police in New Delhi detained about 10 Tibetan protesters outside the Chinese embassy and another Tibetan at the former hermitage of Mahatma Gandhi in Gujarat, which Xi visited yesterday.
