No Modi, Xi meeting at G-20 summit

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping may not hold bilateral talks at the upcoming G-20 summit in Germany.

After wrapping up a pathbreaking visit to Israel, PM Modi is turning his attention to both the G20 summit in Hamburg and the ongoing India-China feud in Doklam, which shows no signs of ebbing after three weeks.

So far, there is no bilateral meeting scheduled between Xi Jinping and Modi in Hamburg. A BRICS meeting has been pencilled in on the sidelines of the tightly-packed G20 sessions.

"So far, there is nothing on a bilateral meeting, but everything is flexible," said top Indian officials.

Responding to reports from Beijing that China had "cancelled" a scheduled meeting between Xi and Modi, Indian officials said no such meeting had been planned.

MEA spokesperson Gopal Baglay said the only meetings scheduled were with leaders from Argentina, Canada, Italy, Japan, Mexico, RoK, UK and Vietnam. This is in addition to BRICS meeting.

China on Thursday said the "atmosphere" was "not right" for a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hamburg, amidst a standoff between the armies of the two countries in the Sikkim section.

The "atmosphere is not right" for a bilateral meeting between President Xi and PM Modi, Chinese Foreign Ministry officials said ahead of the G20 Summit in the German city of Hamburg on Friday.

China and India have been engaged in a standoff in the Dokalam area near the Bhutan tri-junction for the past three weeks after a Chinese Army's construction party attempted to build a road. Doka La is the Indian name for the region which Bhutan recognises as Dokalam, while China claims it as part of its Donglang region.

There were reports that Modi and Xi may meet on the sidelines of the G20 Summit to resolve the standoff.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang expressed hope that "India can immediately withdraw the border troops to the Indian side of the boundary to uphold the peace and tranquillity of the China and India border areas".

"I think this is the pre-condition for any meaningful peace talks between the two sides," he told a media briefing here when asked about the meeting between Modi and Xi on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

China's state-run media on Wednesday had quoted Chinese analysts as saying that Beijing would be forced to use a "military way" to end the standoff in the Sikkim sector if India refuses to listen to the "historical lessons" being offered by it.