Modi arrival at BRICS summit amid expectations of bilateral talks post Doklam

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday arrived in the coastal city of Xiamen to participate in the ninth BRICS summit amid expectations that a dialogue with Chinese President Xi Jinping could set the tone for a new round of engagement between New Delhi and Beijing.

Prime Minister Modi and President Xi are expected to hold a one-on-one meeting on Tuesday.

With military tensions between India and China following the end of a tense face-off at Doklam still fresh in memory, Mr. Xi underscored that the BRICS grouping must uphold the value of diplomacy to resolve “hotspot issues”. Without specifying the Doklam crisis, Mr. Xi, speaking at a business forum, stressed that “peace and development” and not “conflict and confrontation” should be the security template of the five emerging countries.

“Incessant conflicts in some parts of the world and hotspot issues are opposing challenges to world peace,” Mr. Xi observed. He added: “People around the world want peace and cooperation, not conflict or confrontation.”

There was an air of expectation in Xiamen ahead of Mr. Modi’s arrival. Around 50 Indians gathered outside the Wyndham Hotel in the coastal city, chanting the Prime Minister’s name as he arrived on a rain-soaked evening.

On Saturday, Mr. Modi had said he looked forward to a meeting with nine other countries, including BRICS partners, during an Emerging Markets and Developing Countries Dialogue, slated for September 5.

BRICS bank

Prior to the meeting of all the five leaders, the Chinese side appeared focused on highlighting the maturing of the institutional architecture of the BRICS grouping. On Friday, the New Development Bank (NDB) of the world’s five emerging economies has begun construction of a state-of-the-art headquarters in Shanghai, symbolising the rise of the BRICS in revamping the world’s financial architecture.

The NDB’s headquarters will be housed in a landmark building along Shanghai’s iconic Huangpu River, the traditional gateways of China’s overseas trade. During remarks after Friday’s groundbreaking ceremony in Shanghai, K.V. Kamth, NDB’s president underscored bank’s focus on funding green energy products in tune with the vision of the bank’s founders.

De-linking Belt-Road

Highly placed sources engaged in the preparations of the summit highlighted that India opposes any formal docking of China’s Belt and Road Initiative with the BRICS as part of an end-of summit document in Xiamen. Nevertheless, India would have no problems in supporting individual bankable projects that are not formally declared a part of the BRI.

China’s proposal for establishing a BRICS+ arrangement where the host country of the summit is free to invite non-members is likely to be endorsed at Xiamen. The sources said that considerable convergence has been achieved to form a BRICS rating agency. Besides, formation of a BRICS financial institute-a think tank on the lines already established by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also been widely discussed ahead of the summit.

Despite rejection of terrorism, India has been calling for the early endorsement of the UN convention of terrorism. The Chinese are opposed to any formulation that would indirectly slam the role of Pakistan in global terrorism. During his address Mr. Xi said that, "I am convinced that as long as we take a holistic approach to fighting terrorism in all its forms, and address both its symptoms and root causes, terrorists will have no place to hide."

Cyber security is likely to emerge as another important topic in the Xiamen summit. India, on its part, is keen on promoting digital economy, and is likely to back the existing working group on Information and Communication Technology (ICT), to comprehensively examine all aspects of cyber security.

“The intertwined threat of terrorism and lack of cyber security among others have cast dark shadow on the world,” Mr. Xi observed.