PM Modi lands in China after gap of 7 years; all eyes on his talks with President Xi on Sunday
Tianjin (PTI): After a gap of over seven years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in China on Saturday on a keenly watched visit that assumed greater significance in view of sudden downturn in India-US ties triggered by Washington's policies on tariff.
Modi is in China primarily to attend the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on August 31 and September 1.
However, his scheduled meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday has assumed greater significance in the face of Washington's tariff tussle that has impacted almost all leading economies across the world.
In the talks, Modi and Xi are expected to take stock of India-China economic ties and deliberate on steps to further normalise relations that came under severe strain following the eastern Ladakh border row.
The prime minister arrived in this Chinese city from Japan in the second and final leg of his two-nation.
Modi is also expected to hold bilateral talks Russian President Vladimir Putin and a number of other leaders on the margins of the summit.
Ahead of his trip to Tianjin, Modi said it is important for India and China to work together to bring stability to the world economic order.
In an interview with Japan's The Yomiuri Shimbun, Modi said a stable, predictable, and amicable bilateral relations between India and China can have a positive impact on regional and global peace and prosperity.
"Given the current volatility in world economy, it is also important for India and China, as two major economies, to work together to bring stability to the world economic order," Modi said in the interview published on Friday.
Modi's trip to China comes less than a fortnight after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited India.
Following Wang's wide-ranging talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, the two sides unveiled a series of measures for a "stable, cooperative and forward-looking" relationship between the two sides.
The measures included joint maintenance of peace along the contested frontier, reopening border trade and resuming direct flight services at the earliest.
In the last few months, both sides have initiated a series of measures to reset their ties that came under severe strain following the deadly clashes between Indian and Chinese troops in Galwan Valley in June 2020.
The prime minister last visited China in June, 2018, to attend the SCO summit. Chinese President Xi visited India in October 2019 for the second "informal summit".
The eastern Ladakh face-off effectively ended following completion of the disengagement process from the last two friction points of Demchok and Depsang under an agreement finalised on October 21 last year.
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Odisha: Normalcy returns to violence-hit Malkangiri; internet services fully restored
Malkangiri (PTI): Normalcy returned to Odisha’s Malkangiri district on Monday, nearly a week after around 200 villages were damaged in violent clashes in a village, with the district administration fully restoring internet services, a senior official said.
Additional District Magistrate Bedabar Pradhan said internet services, suspended across the district on December 8 to curb the spread of rumours and misinformation following the clashes, were restored after the situation improved.
The suspension had been extended in phases till 12 noon on Monday.
The administration also withdrew prohibitory orders imposed under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita within a 10-km radius of MV-26 village, where arson incidents were reported on December 7 and December 8.
Though the violence was confined to two villages, tension had gripped the entire district, as the incident took the form of a clash between local tribals and Bengali settlers following the recovery of a headless body of a woman on December 4, officials said.
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The violence broke out after residents of Rakhelguda village allegedly set ablaze several houses belonging to Bengali residents, forcing hundreds to flee. The headless body of Lake Podiami (51), a woman from the Koya tribe, was recovered from the banks of the Poteru river on December 4, while her head was found six days later at a location about 15 km away.
Officials said the district administration held several rounds of discussions with representatives of the tribal and Bengali communities, following which both sides agreed to maintain peace.
Relief and rehabilitation work has since been launched at MV-26 village, with preliminary assessment pegging property damage at around Rs 3.8 crore.
A two-member ministerial team headed by Deputy Chief Minister K V Singh Deo visited the affected village, interacted with officials and locals, and submitted a report to the chief minister.
So far, 18 people have been arrested in connection with the violence, the officials said, adding that despite the withdrawal of prohibitory orders and restoration of internet services, security forces, including BSF and CRPF personnel, continue to be deployed to prevent any untoward incident.
On Sunday, Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi visited MV-26 and neighbouring Rakhelguda villages, and held discussions with members of both communities as part of efforts to rebuild confidence and restore peace.
More than two lakh Bengali-speaking Bangladeshis were rehabilitated by the Centre in Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts in 1968, and they currently reside in 124 villages of Malkangiri.
