What Modi and Xi hope to gain when they meet in China this week

China will be keen to woo India away from a US alliance against Beijing when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Chinese President Xi Jinping for informal talks in Wuhan this week, diplomatic observers said.

The two days of talks starting on Friday come as China faces threats of US trade action and India seeks to put its economic development on track ahead of an election next year.

It also comes nearly a year after military personnel from both countries faced off for 73 days over a contested border in the Doklam Plateau in the Himalayas…

But observers said Modi and Xi had strong reasons to find common ground. 

Srikanth Kondapalli, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, said Beijing was concerned about India’s growing cooperation with the United States, including last year’s announcement to revive the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, talks that also include officials from Australia and Japan. 

“Whenever China feels that US-India relations are improving, China does some kind of signalling, and calls for ‘multipolarity’ to counter the United States’ ‘unipolar’ position,” he said.

Renmin University international relations professor Shi Yinhong said the talks were part of a broader effort to improve bilateral relations.

“This is part of the ongoing reconciliation in bilateral ties between China and India since August when the two countries agreed to end the stand-off at Doklam,” Shi said.