Modi-Xi summit: Can India celebrate 'success' at Wuhan, cautiously?

What does one make of the Wuhan Summit? The usual partisans are out either panning it or praising it. The answer probably lies somewhere in between, a complex multi-causal matrix. What is surprising is that this summit actually holds the kernel of great promise, if and only if, India has the will and institutional memory to follow through. Alas as we know, lack of delivery and loss of direction are the bane of Indian policy making.

From Xi's standpoint this summit was offered as a patch-up but in reality, as China's need to "face-save" goes it was a victory. Much of this perceived victory, has to do with the old imperial tradition of foreign potentates calling on the emperor who almost never left China. The problem here is that Indian leaders, as a rule, tend to go more often to China than Chinese leaders visit India. To be fair given India's strident stand against Chinese economic projects and holding firm on the issue of Doklam, one did need to soften the blow. Antagonism mixed with sweet nothings is usually a very good tactic, The issue here is, a string of acts of defiance by India should have brought the Chinese leadership to India, not the other way round. But given that it forced the Chinese leadership to request and host a summit in itself marks a climb down. Psychologically, therefore, the image of a foreign leader coming to Chinese home turf, was a victory for China, though a pyrrhic one and as such must be seen as a partial victory for India.