Chinese President Xi extends 'heartfelt congratulations' to Modi on victory

Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday extended his "heartfelt congratulations" to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for winning the general elections, in a rare gesture of greeting a foreign leader well before the official announcement of the results.

In a letter delivered by the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi to the Ministry of External Affairs amidst the counting of votes, Xi said: "on the occasion of the National Democratic Alliance wining the 17th Lok Sabha elections of India under your leadership, I would like to extend my heart-felt congratulations.

"As important neighbours to each other, China and India are the two largest developing countries and emerging economies in the world. In recent years, China-India relations have shown strong momentum of development under the joint efforts of both sides".

Significantly, Xi in his letter to Modi highlighted the "good" coordination and cooperation between the two countries on multi-polarisation, economic globalisation and multilateralism.

China, which is battling a bruising trade war with the US, has emerged as a bitter critic of President Donald Trump's policies putting America first, undermining the process of globalisation which had benefitted the developing countries.

On the bilateral front, Xi who last year held the historic first informal summit with Modi at Wuhan to set the Sino-Indian relations on track after the 2017 Doklam stand-off, said he attached "great importance" to the ties between the two countries.

"I attach great importance to the development of China-India relations and would like to work with the you to guide the development directions of the bilateral relations, enhance mutual political trust, expand pragmatic cooperation and promote the closer developmental partnership between the two countries to a new height," Xi said as he ended the letter saying "with my best wishes for your good health and every success".

Xi's message congratulating Modi well before the official announcement of the results came as a surprise to many China watchers as normally, by practice and protocol, the Chinese leadership greets leaders of foreign countries only after the official results are announced.

Considering the bonhomie and friendship between Xi and Modi, who met numerous times in the last few years, officials said the Chinese President did not wait for an official declaration of the polls.

In 2014, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was the first world leader to dial-up Modi after he was sworn in and announced Beijing's plan to send the then Foreign Minister Wang Yi to establish contact with the new government.

Xi and Modi are expected to meet at the G-20 summit scheduled at Osaka in Japan on June 28-29.

Wang announced here last month that Xi would visit India later this year for the second Wuhan-style informal summit, for which officials said preparations would begin immediately after the formation of the new government.

In December last year, Prime Minister Modi met President Xi on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Argentina and discussed joint efforts to further enhance mutual trust and friendship between the two giant neighbours.

The April 27-28 Wuhan summit between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi was largely credited to have turned around the bilateral relations soured by the 73-day Doklam standoff, triggered by Chinese troops attempts to build a road close to Indian border in an area also claimed by Bhutan in 2017.

After the Wuhan summit, both the countries stepped up efforts to improve relations on different spheres including the military-to-military ties.

Prime Minister Modi led his Bharatiya Janata Party towards a resounding victory for a second term in office.