November is shaping up as one of the busiest months of 2020 for the external affairs ministry in terms of virtual summits of groupings such as the SCO, the BRICS and the ASEAN, with leaders of India and China expected to be on the same online platform at five meetings.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping are expected to join the virtual summits of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on November 10, the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) grouping on November 17, and the G20 during November 21-22.
The leaders of India and China are also expected to be part of the East Asia Summit on November 11 and the SCO council of heads of government meeting on November 30, which will be hosted by New Delhi.
The virtual SCO summit, to be hosted by Russia, will be the first time that PM Modi and Xi will join an online meeting since the border standoff in Ladakh emerged into the open in May. The two leaders had joined a virtual G20 summit in April this year to discuss the Covid-19 pandemic, which has disrupted most diplomatic engagements.
In the past, high-level engagements between India and China have taken place on the sidelines of such summits. In fact, it had become a norm for both the leaders to meet on the sidelines of such major meetings. But after the border dispute that emerged in April both the leaders have maintained a distance.
This is for the first time that the summits will happen virtually. Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia had virtually hosted the summit of G20 leaders to discuss the strategy of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Both, PM Modi and Chinese President Xi were present in the meet but relations were not bad.