The atmosphere of anticipation marked the build-up to the first informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra modi and President XI Jinping in the Central Chinese city of Wuhan in April 2018.

Late foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi jointly announced a summit in Beijing on Sunday, striking the right notes of optimism and signaling a thaw in the cold that has affected bilateral ties since the military standoff in Doklam in 2017.

A sense of positivity was evident at the end of it, with modi and XI talking about keeping the border peaceful and, for the first time, deciding to launch a cooperation project in a third country, Afghanistan.

About 18 months later, XI flies to Chennai on Friday in his plush air force aircraft for a second informal summit at the city’s temple

Mamallapuram that air of expectation seems to have eased enough to include a rush that old motif in Sino-Indian ties-mistrust.

The surprise appearance of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in Beijing with army chief General Zamar Bajwa this week, during two days of Packed meetings with top Chinese leadership, has not really helped build up the “spirit of Chennai,” a possible continuation of the” Spirit of Wuhan ” – meaning a vague kind of diplomatic bonhomie.

After Khan’s meetings, the word Kashmir was liberally used in statements by Islamabad and Beijing, and XI quoted the official news Agency as saying China would closely monitor developments in Kashmir.

Modi spent nearly 40 hours, including two nights in Wuhan. In contrast, XI may spend less than a day in Chennai and Mamallapuram.

So when modi and XI take their first walk near Mamallapuram beach on Friday night, the question is whether they will continue with the “spirit of Wuhan” or whether they will first clear the air of, say, the latest developments in Kashmir.

That’s where the informal structure of the summit will come in handy, as the two countries ‘ diplomats point out at every opportunity: the two leaders will meet in a calm, friendly atmosphere without the pressure of having to come out with a structured document at the end of it all.

Instead, they need to be given “strategic guidance” on the broad direction of bilateral relations. Their broad “talking points” are pretty much clear: border, trade, people-to-people exchanges, and regional connectivity.

The nature of this mechanism, however, can be unpredictable. It’s unpredictability that can throw up surprises as modi and XI may decide to focus on a specific aspect, as they did in Wuhan when they talked about providing “strategic leadership” for their military.

“The informal conversation is an important step in Sino-Indian relations, which provides a unique opportunity to reach consensus and seek common interests at the highest level. It’s a top-down approach to turn consensus into tangible results, ” said Lu Yang, an India expert from the Department of international relations at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

The informal structure, as a former Indian diplomat in Beijing recently pointed out, gives modi and XI hours of opportunity to interact directly, cutting through diplomatic Protocol in relative confidentiality.

“The meeting of senior leaders will certainly prevent bilateral disagreements such as Tibet, the border dispute, Pakistan and the one belt and one road Initiative in particular will not disrupt the overall stability of bilateral ties,” said Hu Shisheng of the China Institute of modern international relations.

Hu added that the interaction will help the two leaders reduce the possibility of wrong decision or misinterpretation of policies towards each other, and work to reduce the sense of geostrategic competition in the common environment.

“Informal conversation is a long-term mechanism. We can resolve differences only through negotiations to strengthen mutual understanding and trust, ” Lu said.

“An informal summit is a good opportunity… to maintain the momentum and chemistry between the two leaders, focusing on bilateral cooperation and thinking about the future of ties, ” said LAN Jianxue of the China Institute of international studies.

It remains to be seen whether this chemistry is able to bring the bonhomie air back into communication at the end of the summit on Saturday.

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