India did not ask for meeting with Xi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping sit on a traditional swing at the Sabarmati riverfront in Ahmedabad in September, 2014.(Photo: PTI)

Jerusalem: Reacting to the Chinese Foreign Ministry statement that the atmosphere is not conducive for a bilateral meeting between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hamburg on the sidelines of the G20 meeting, a top Indian Government source said "But we did not ask for a meeting. So where is the question of the atmosphere being conducive or not?" The current phase of Beijing trying to browbeat New Delhi began with the Chinese PLA demolishing a 10-year-old Indian Army bunker in the Dokala area on June 6. This led to a standoff in the Doklam plateau in Bhutan on June 16. China has been trying to intrude into Bhutanese territory claiming it as its own. This poses a security threat to India at the Silkim-Bhutan-Tibet trijunction. India has remained quiet but firm in repudiating the Chinese claim and pushing back the Chinese intrusion. Beijing has been upping the ante trying to provoke New Delhi. But with New Delhi not responding the effect has been of putting Beijing into a tizzy.