“In Chinese, the character for crisis is the same as the character for opportunity,” this is among a bouquet of Chinese proverbs that have been repeatedly quoted by world leaders in the recent past. The character of current standoff between India and China seems to be somewhat similar. Even as the rhetoric around border issues has raised tempers on both sides, the billion-dollar business continues as usual.
Amid escalation of the standoff around Dokalam area, three senior ministers of the Narendra Modi government travelled to mainland China this week for multilateral and bilateral meetings.
Union Human Resource Minister Prakash Javdekar returned to Delhi on Thursday morning from Beijing. He was in the Chinese capital to attend the 5th meeting of BRICS education ministers.
At the conclusion of the BRICS education ministers’ meeting, a bilateral meeting was also held between Javdekar and the Education Minister of China, Chen Baosheng.
At Tianjin on Thursday morning, Health Minister J P Nadda participated in BRICS Health Ministers’ conference. He informed the gathering that National Health Policy of India, 2017 was aligned with United Nations’ sustainable development goals.
Similarly, Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma was also touring China. He was at Tianjin to participate in the second BRICS Culture Ministers’ Conference. In his keynote address, Sharma said he looks forward to ideas and initiatives to take forward cultural cooperation among BRICS countries and said that July 6 meeting will be a game changer.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi left for Germany, after his three-day visit to Israel, to participate in G-20 summit which would also be attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Chinese foreign office in Beijing, however, made it clear on Thursday that atmosphere was “not right” for a bilateral or a pull-aside meeting between the two leaders on the sidelines of the summit.
