China on Monday refused to acknowledge the interaction between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping on the side-lines of the G-20 summit at Hamburg last week,
insisting that no “bilateral meeting” took place between the two leaders.
India too has not described the interaction, which included a handshake, as a “bilateral meeting” but said that “a range of issues” were discussed by the two leaders. The Indian side has said that the interaction lasted five minutes.
Faced with a barrage of questions by reporters on how China viewed the interaction, Foreign Ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang would only say repeatedly that no bilateral meeting took place.
“According to my information, the two leaders did not hold any bilateral meetings,” he said.
“On the side-lines of the G20, President Xi also presided over the informal BRICS leaders meeting. Prime Minister Modi and other leaders of the BRICS countries also attended that event”, he said.