Narendra Modi-Xi Jinping by sea: Four meetings in 24 hours

What exactly will PM Narendra Modi have in store for President Xi Jinping when the Chinese leader lands in Chennai on Friday for their second informal summit. Four separate meetings together, lasting well over five hours, with the highlight being a tete-a-tete on the manicured lawns of a seaside resort overlooking the Bay of Bengal.

In the space of 24 hours, Xi will be in and around Chennai after he reaches there at 1.30 pm on Friday and departs around the same time the next day. In all, they will be spending close to seven hours together.

India, China hope to resolve defence exercise issue soon
PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinging will also pack in an hour-long tour of Mamallapuram's three famous monuments and a cultural programme. Another round of diplomatic strife, this time over India’s ongoing military exercise in Arunachal, has further delayed the announcement of Xi's visit but both sides seemed confident on Sunday of the summit proceeding. The summit has come at a time the bilateral relationship faces its most testing period since the Doklam standoff with China seen to be siding with Pakistan on the changes in J&K with regard to the scrapping of the state’s special status.

Ahead of the summit, TOI got an exclusive and comprehensive peek into the programme, which seems designed to allow Modi and Xi to spend as much time as possible in private. The 'Wuhan'-type discussion is intended to allow the two leaders to traverse a wide range of geo-political subjects. The leaders will officially start the informal summit on Friday at 5 pm with an hour-long tour of monuments - Arjuna's Penance, Panch Rathas and Shore Temple - in Mamallapuram.

Xi and Modi will then round off the day with a private dinner which the latter will host, again at Shore Temple. Xi will then return to his hotel in Chennai.

The leaders will start the next day at 10 am with an informal chat in the gardens of a five-star resort. This meeting, expected to last for at least 40 minutes, is where Xi and Modi will exchange their world views in private, like they did on a boat ride in Wuhan last year. In all, the leaders will spend close to seven hours together.

Before all that to happen, though, there's still the small matter of officially announcing the summit. India is likely to do so late on Monday or Tuesday after a final confirmation from China. Chinese vice-foreign minister Luo Zhaohui, as first reported by TOI on Saturday, had registered a strong protest with foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale against India's Him-Vijay military exercise.

A votary of stronger ties with India, Luo had been pushing for an early informal summit. Beijing's decision will likely depend on his report to the top leadership on his engagements with Indian officials. India, though, is unlikely to stall the Arunachal exercise with the Army clarifying again on Saturday that it was planned months in advance and was taking place 100 km from the Line of Actual Control.