WUHAN: Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that mutual trust is the basis for the stable development of Sino-Indian relations. Xi made the remarks when holding an informal meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday and Saturday in central Chinese city of Wuhan. Xi said that both sides should develop Sino-Indian ties from a strategic perspective, constantly enhance mutual understanding and trust, and promote all sectors and people of the two countries to deepen mutual understanding and cultivate friendly feelings. Xi and Modi exchanged views on bilateral relations, and international and regional issues of common concern Saturday morning in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere, as they walked on the shores of Wuhan’s East Lake in central China. In New Delhi, the Indian media presented a positive and encouraging coverage of the two-day informal meeting between President Xi and Prime Minister Modi. Most of the dailies carried front-page reports with photographs of Xi and Modi shaking hands, highlighting the first-of-its-kind meeting. India’s most circulated English daily The Times of India said in its headline: “Modi and Xi set tone by focusing on positives, plan more informal summits”, and quoted the Chinese president as calling for continuous strengthening of friendly relations between the two countries so that their friendship will continue to flow forward like the Yangtze and Ganges rivers. “The meeting lasted more than two hours instead of the scheduled 30 minutes as Xi and Modi exhibited a desire to impart a new pace to ties and preventing disputes from holding relations to ransom,” it reported. Another national daily, The Hindu, reported Modi as hoping to hold such a meeting in India in 2019. The people of India feel proud that President Xi has received the Indian prime minister twice out of the capital, the report quoted Modi as telling Xi. One of the oldest English dailies of India, The Statesman, described the meeting as a “heart-to-heart summit”. In a report titled “Modi, Xi hold informal summit to solidify India-China ties”, it said “it is being seen as an effort by both India and China to rebuild trust and improve ties.” The Indian Express said there is vast space for the two countries to take their ties to a new level. Socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, while India is at a critical period of its development and rejuvenation, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in Beijing on April 22, after talks with visiting Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. Xi and Modi decided to hold their informal meeting against this background, and it will help deepen trust between the two leaders and guide the two countries to set new goals and open up new prospects for bilateral ties, Wang said. Published in Daily Times, April 29th 2018.