Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to China has attracted a lot of strategic significance not because of the SCO summit meeting taking place in Tianjin but because of his scheduled meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping in an effort to recalibrate the frosty relations between the two countries. These meetings on the margins of the multilateral summit are significant. Such meetings provide opportunities for an interaction between and among world leaders to discuss bilateral issues which the format of the multilateral meeting does not permit.

Such meetings are increasingly assuming great significance in terms of strategic communication especially when there is a political or military impasse between two countries. Summit meetings and structured dialogues between leaders are, at times, difficult to work out due to paucity of time and the nitty-gritty they involve. It is in this backdrop that side-line meetings create the atmospherics for a closer interface and interaction between leaders. Take for example the Bangkok BIMSTEC meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh leader Mohammad Yunus which took place in April this year.

Advertisement

Although there was media speculation about such a bilateral meeting, neither side made it public that it was to take place, even though much diplomatic activity must have preceded it given the frosty relationship between the two countries. In a thoughtful gesture, Mr Modi........

© The Statesman