Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday extended his “heartfelt congratulations” to 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. PTI
