Update | Yoga and Modi's soft-power position on China
Narendra Modi's three-day visit, which will include talks with President Xi Jinping, will help underscore the strong cultural and religious ties between the two countries, say analysts
Buddhism and yoga will form part of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s soft power diplomacy as he visits China today and tries to increase his nation’s influence in the world’s second-largest economy.
Modi, who heads a 50-strong delegation, arrived in the ancient city of Xian – the home town of President Xi Jinping – this morning at the start of a three-day trip.
The close personal rapport between the two leaders will be on show, despite a festering border dispute that has coloured relations between the two countries.
Kicking off the trip, Modi visited the site of Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s Terracotta Army, a world heritage site, according to pictures posted on his official Twitter account. This was after he was greeted on the airport tarmac by a dancing troupe.
The Indian leader was also set to see the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda – a structure built to highlight the 7th century Chinese Buddhist monk Xuan Zang’s journey to India.
Xi joined him later in Shaanxi. The choice of the president’s home town as the first stop of Modi’s China visit, which will also take him to Beijing on Friday and Shanghai on Saturday, is viewed as a reciprocal gesture by China following Xi’s visit to India in September, when he was invited by Modi to visit his home province of Gujarat.
