Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Chennai on Friday for the 2nd informal summit between India and China.

The second informal meet between the two leaders is being held on October 11 and 12 at Mamallapuram near Chennai.

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The upcoming Chennai summit will provide them with an opportunity to continue discussions on bilateral, regional, global issues and exchange views on deepening India-China Closer Development Partnership, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

PM Modi and President Xi Jinping had their inaugural informal summit in Wuhan, China on 27 and 28 April, last year, months after a 73-day long face-off between the armies of the two countries in Doklam tri-junction in Sikkim sector raised fears of a war between the two Asian giants.

Meanwhile, ahead of the informal summit between the two leaders, Beijing has moderated its stand on Kashmir, saying the issue should be resolved between India and Pakistan through dialogue and consultation.

“China’s position on Kashmir issue is clear and consistent. We call on India and Pakistan to engage in dialogue and consultation on all issues including Kashmir issue and consolidate mutual trust. This is in line with the interest of both countries and common aspiration of the world,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang had said on Tuesday.

China also refrained from mentioning the UN Security Council resolution and UN charter, as it had done earlier in its statements on Kashmir, including at the UN General Assembly last month.

The moderation in the Chinese position comes as Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa are in Beijing, to further cement the close ties between China and Pakistan.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had earlier raised the Kashmir issue in the 74th session of the UNGA in New York.

He had said the Kashmir issue is a “dispute left from the past and should be properly and peacefully resolved based in accordance with the UN Charter, UN Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreements”.

Taking a strong note of the remarks, the Ministry of External Affairs reiterated New Delhi’s stand that the Jammu and Kashmir issue was “entirely India’s internal matter”.

China, an all-weather ally of Pakistan, had reaffirmed its support to Islamabad on the Kashmir issue on various global platforms, first at UNSC, then at UNHRC and finally at UNGA.

India on August 5, withdrew the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, which will come into being on October 31.