‘Rich in optics, poor in outcome’: No-agenda Wuhan summit taken with a pinch of salt

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President seven times over Friday and Saturday in the central Chinese city of Wuhan during the “informal summit.” The two leaders spent almost nine hours together, discussing a range of issues concerning bilateral relations as well as global developments. Yet, there wasn’t a single deliverable out of this interaction, only the second meeting between them since the end of the 73-day long standoff on Bhutan’s Doklam Plateau.

While media of both India and China hailed the summit in Wuhan as a new beginning in Indo-China relations, the leaderships of the two neighbours were more circumspect in pinning their hopes high.

“The basic objective of the informal summit was to have an overall discussion on the overarching issues of bilateral and global importance. It was also intended to elaborate on the respective visions and priorities of both leaders for national development in the context of the current situation,” India’s foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said at the end of the summit in Wuhan.

Gokhale’s thoughts were echoed by China’s vice foreign minister Kong Xuanyou, who said in a press statement that both the leaders had arrived at a “broad consensus” on various bilateral and global issues.

“Both the leaders also agreed to maintain strategic communication at various levels,” the statement said.

However, a lack of clear agenda in the lead-up to the summit and no concrete outcomes at its end puts a big question mark on the very purpose of holding a two-day meeting at a riverside retreat.

Kanwal Sibal, India’s former foreign secretary, noted that the Wuhan summit did nothing to address the “structural issues” in Indo-China relations.

“All the summit has done is lower the temperature and reduce the possibility of a military standoff, because of strategic guidance both leaders have pledged to their respective militaries,” former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal told National Herald.

“The larger issues of China’s backing of Pakistan, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), geopolitical tensions in the region and India aligning itself with the US in the Indo-Pacific still plague the bilateral relationship,” added Sibal.

The former diplomat, however, is of the view that incidents like the 73-day standoff in Doklam last year would be avoided in the future, because of “strategic guidance” in dealing with border disputes.

He also views the joining of hands of India and China in Afghanistan for a project as a major takeaway from PM Modi’s visit.

“The Indo-China cooperation in Afghanistan directly challenges Pakistan’s strategy to keep India out of Pakistan. It like joint projects being carried out between India and the US in Afghanistan,” said the former Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer.

Equally critical of the point of having an informal meeting without a set agenda, Varaprasad Sekhar Dolla, a professor of Chinese studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), disagrees with Sibal.

“The Chinese leadership cannot be trusted so easily. We have to wait and watch if there are any positives out this summit,” Dolla said, noting that the Chinese troops were continuing with their military build-up on the Doklam Plateau.

“They would still want to control the Doklam Pleateu. Whether the promise of both the leaders guiding their respective militaries would be taken to a logical conclusion remains to be seen,” added Dolla.

The academic further cautioned that China would look to balance its relations with Pakistan with the broad commitments it had made to India in Wuhan.

“If they had committed to a clear agenda, it would have lent the summit more value,” Dolla remarked. He added, “The Wuhan Summit was rich in optics, poor in the outcome.”