Didn’t ask for Modi-Xi meeting, so no question of conducive atmosphere: Indian official

The comments came after Beijing ruled out a one-on-one between the two leaders, saying the “atmosphere” was “not right” for a bilateral, amid a standoff between the two armies at the Sikkim border.

New Delhi: There is no question of a “conducive atmosphere or not” because India did not ask for a bilateral between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping during the G20 summit in Germany's Hamburg city, an Indian official, who is accompanying the Indian leader, has said.

The comments come after Beijing ruled out a one-on-one between the two leaders, saying the “atmosphere” was “not right” for a bilateral, amid a standoff between the two armies at the Sikkim border.

“But we did not ask for any meeting, so where is the question of atmosphere being conducive or not,” the Hindustan Times quoted an Indian official, who is reportedly accompanying the prime minister to Israel, as saying.

He further said, reportedly requesting anonymity, that “the two countries were likely to allow their armies to resolve the Doklam stand-off”.

On Thursday, a Chinese foreign ministry official said in Beijing that “The atmosphere is not right for a bilateral meeting”, between the two leaders.

The G20 summit will begin in Hamburg on Friday.

The Dokalam plateau is in the tri-junction between India, Bhutan and China. Tensions started after a PLA construction party tried to build a road.

India has said Beijing's action to "unilaterally determine tri-junction points" is in violation of a 2012 India-China agreement, which says the boundary will be decided by consulting all concerned parties.

India and China share a little over 200-km border in the Sikkim sector.

China's state-run media on Wednesday in an opinion piece said that Beijing would be forced to use "military" to end the standoff in the Sikkim sector if India refuses to listen to the "historical lessons" being offered by it.