BOTH INDIA AND CHINA HAVE DESCRIBED the second “informal summit” meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping near Chennai in the second week of October as more significant than the bilateral meetings that they held in the past. The two leaders had six hours of direct talks in the course of two days at the summit. Xi, hailing the success of the talks, invited Modi for another informal summit in China next year. Modi was quick to accept the invitation.
Modi, speaking before the delegation-level talks between the two sides, said both countries had decided “to be sensitive to each other’s concerns”. Xi reciprocated by stating that the “informal summits have produced visible progress” in bilateral relations. “We have deeper strategic communication, more diverse people to people and cultural exchanges, and closer cooperation on multilateral occasions,” he said.
The first “informal summit” between the two leaders was held in the Chinese city of Wuhan in March last year. The Modi government was anxious at the time to extricate itself from the diplomatic and military quagmire it had got itself into in Doklam. The Chinese government was upset when India chose to escalate a minor boundary dispute between China and Bhutan into a military standoff that lasted for 73 days in 2017. The long-running Doklam incident took place at a time when the Chinese Communist Party was busy preparing to celebrate its centenary in a big way.
This story is from the November 8, 2019 edition of FRONTLINE.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the November 8, 2019 edition of FRONTLINE.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
How Not To Handle An Epidemic
The lockdowns were meant to buy time to put in place appropriate health measures and contain the coronavirus’ spread, but they have failed to achieve the objective and heaped immense misery on the marginalised sections of society. India is still in the exponential phase of the COVID-19 infection and community transmission is a reality that the government refuses to accept.
Tragedy on foot
As the COVID-19-induced lockdown cuts the ground beneath their feet in Tamil Nadu, thousands of migrant workers are trudging along the highway to the relative safety of their upcountry homes.
Sarpanchs as game changers
Odisha manages to keep COVID-19 well under control because of the strong participation of panchayati raj institutions and the community at the grass-roots level under the leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Scapegoating China
As the COVID-19 death rate spikes and the economy tanks in the United States, Donald Trump and his advisers target China and the World Health Organisation with an eye to winning the forthcoming presidential election.
New worries
Kerala’s measured approach to the pandemic and lockdown has yielded results. But it still has to grapple with their huge economic impact on its economy, which it feels the Centre’s special financial relief package does little to alleviate.
No love lost for labour
Taking advantage of the lockdown and the inability of workers to organise protests, many State governments introduce sweeping changes to labour laws to the detriment of workers on the pretext of reviving production and boosting the economy.
Capital's Malthusian moment
In a world that needs substantial reorienting of production and distribution, Indian capital is resorting to a militant form of moribund neoliberalism to overcome its current crisis. In this pursuit of profit, it is ready and willing to throw into mortal peril millions whom it adjudicates as not worth their means—an admixture of social Darwinism born of capital’s avarice and brutalism spawned by Hindutva. .
Understanding migration
When governments and their plans are found to be blatantly wanting in addressing reverse migration, exercises such as the Ekta Parishad’s survey of migrant workers throughout India can be useful to work out creative long-lasting solutions.
Waiting for Jabalpur moment
The Supreme Court’s role in ensuring executive accountability during the ongoing lockdown leaves much to be desired. Standing in shining contrast is the record of some High Courts.
An empty package
The Modi regime, which has been unable to control the COVID-19 infection, restore economic activity and provide relief to millions exposed to starvation, trains its sights on Indian democracy, making use of the panic generated by fear and a lockdown that forecloses paths of resistance.
