Chinese President likely to visit India this year: MEA S Jaishankar

Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to visit India this year, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Tuesday.

Talking to reporters here after filing his nomination for Rajya Sabha by-poll from Gujarat, he said, "Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met China's President in Wuhan and it was a good round of talks. It is expected that Xi Jinping will visit India this year."

The minister stressed that Prime Minister Modi's visit to China turned out to be a success in terms of bringing more stability in the ties between the two countries.

"After last year's meeting, there has been more stability in our relations. I will visit China myself. However, dates are not decided yet," he said.

On May 22, Chinese Ambassador to India, Luo Zhaohui, had said that Xi and Modi share good chemistry and he was very touched by their informal meeting in Wuhan last year.

"Prime Minister Modi and the Chinese President met seventeen times in the last five years. PM Modi paid official trips to China and the Chinese President paid visits to India. Prime Minister Modi went to the Chinese President's home town Xian and in Wuhan last April. Despite their busy schedules, the two leaders spent their time together and it really touched me," Luo had told ANI.

Modi and Xi had met during the informal meeting in Wuhan in April last year. The meeting was held without a fixed agenda.

The informal summit took place in the backdrop of the Doklam standoff which had strained ties between New Delhi and Beijing.

The Chinese President had also visited Gujarat, Modi's home state, after the NDA came to power in 2014.

-ANI