NEW DELHI: Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping hand-shake in BRICS summit in Goa, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval met Chinese Ambassador to Delhi Luo Zhaohui at the South Block.
The meeting comes days after China threw a spanner in India’s attempt to get Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar in the proscribed terrorist list of the United Nations. This has been the second attempt by Beijing to do thwart India’s attempt at the behest of Pakistan.
Apart from this India has been observing Chinese position on Kashmir as well. Apart from supporting Pakistan, the re-plugging of the old news about China building dam on Brahmaputra's tributary by Chinese news agency Xinhua is being as a “testing the waters” move as India continues to have a difficult relation with the neighbor on the west. The two officials would seek to work on the differences before Prime Minister Modi and President Jinping meet in BRICS Summit.
New Delhi has been engaging with China on the issue of the listing of Masood Azhar, accused to have orchestrated the terror attack on Pathankot airbase in January followed by the Uri attack in September this year. Despite this Beijing, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, extended its technical “hold” on Masood Azhar by another three months in the UN Security Council’s 1267 committee.
China’s reaction to the India’s claimed surgical strikes in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK), where it has projects under the umbrella of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), have not been over the top as it asked both India and Pakistan to exercise restraint. Experts attribute this to the strikes being shallow and Beijing would certainly not want the conflict to escalate as it could jeopardise the $ 46 billion CPEC that will provide it an alternate land trade route to the Indian Ocean.