Chinese President Xi Jinping is heading to Chennai on Friday with a clear message — Beijing wants to develop a 360-degree relationship with India. President Xi’s bagful of pre-departure messages can be traced to the Bishkek summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in June. The Hindu has learnt that the Chinese side had offered its good offices to resolve the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan, which New Delhi politely declined. Earlier in March, Foreign Minister Wang had publicly offered to mediate to resolve Indo-Pak differences. With a breakthrough in Kashmir, India will no longer have an argument to reject the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the flagship of President Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Source: The Hindu October 10, 2019 17:49 UTC