Xi Jinping takes 3rd term; all eyes on his visit for SCO Summit to India
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, March 10: In line with his wishes to rule for life, Xi Jinping has taken the third term as President of China after the namesake Parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC), unanimously voted for the sole candidate in the fray on Friday. This wraps up sweeping changes to centralize powers in Beijing to cut through the power of provinces, while also making a firm ascendance of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the ruling structure.
Xi as the head of the Chinese military is being closely watched over by the world as he steers China into a shell by hyping perennial fear of the Chinese psyche of invasion and existential threat. With the US intelligence report claiming that there exists possibilities of an India-China War across the Line of Actual Control (LAC), all eyes will be on the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in June this year in New Delhi.
“There has been some positive development of late. The talks between the Indian and Chinese sides are positive. At least the two nations are talking to each other. But the real sign of changing the bilateral relations may come if Xi visits India in June this year for the SCO Summit,” said Shyam Sharan, India’s former foreign secretary, while speaking at a conversation organized by the India International Centre and Press Club of India.
The Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang had come to New Delhi to attend the Raisina Dialogue, which is organized by the Ministry of External Affairs in association with ORF. Qin had a bilateral meeting with India’s external affairs minister S Jaishankar during which the two sides had discussed the issue of the border tension. Jaishankar on several occasions has maintained that the situation across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) remains abnormal.
While Xi had attended the SCO Summit in Samarkand last year, his participation in New Delhi in June is being highly speculated. India has also sought to reach out to Beijing recently in a bid to ensure the Chinese participation in the SCO as well as the G20. “Xi’s presence in the SCO Summit in June and G20 in September will be watched out for signs on India-China relations,” added Sharan, who has also authored a book ‘How China sees India and the world’.
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