Xi Jinping Arrives In India For Summit With Modi

President Xi Jinping arrived in India Friday for a summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a time of tensions over Beijing joining Pakistan in opposing India's downgrading of Kashmir's autonomy and the ongoing lockdown in the disputed region.

Xi landed at the Chennai airport, where Tamil Nadu state Governor Patwarilal Purohit greeted him with a bouquet as a cultural group beat drums and blew horns.

India's foreign ministry said Xi and Modi will meet at the seaside temple town of Mamallapuram for talks on regional and global developments later on Friday and Saturday.

More than 40 Tibetans, including a prominent activist, have been reportedly detained in the city ahead of the summit.

China was irked by India's August move to split Jammu and Kashmir in two because it will make the state's Ladakh region – part of which is claimed by Beijing – a separate Indian administrative territory.

India meanwhile has been enraged by China's diplomatic backing for Pakistan, which controls a much larger part of Kashmir.

When Xi said he supports Pakistan's "legitimate rights", India's foreign ministry thundered it was "not for other countries to comment on the internal affairs of India".

The Indian Express newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying Modi would urge Xi to be more "sensitive" to India's concerns, and to "explain to the Chinese president the reasons behind Delhi's decision on Kashmir".

India also is concerned about China's moves to build strategic and economic ties with its neighbors Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and the Maldives. (AFP, AP)