Amid flight delays owing to a typhoon, nearly 3,000 journalists from across the globe trickled into the coastal hub of Xiamen, the venue of the ninth summit of the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) grouping, held earlier this month.
For the next few days, a sprawling media centre would be their home. Every half an hour, shuttle buses from designated hotels brought them to their new workplace. The last bus would leave the venue at 10.30 p.m., long after the sun had gone down in the neighbouring South China Sea.
The Chinese had ensured that all the arrangements were spot on, to the last detail. Journalists could access 700 work stations connected with high-speed Internet, plug-in audio links, and two electric points. Giant screens in the media hall showed the opulent red-carpet welcome for the heads. No effort was spared to ensure that messages coming from the top leaders were relayed to the media in near-real-time.
The hosts had also ensured that a vast dining area, serving a wide variety of food, was in full swing right from the crack of dawn. It met the expectations of most of the media assemblage, though the vegetarians may justifiably have had something to complain.
Impact of Doklam
For the Indian media, the Doklam stand-off naturally coloured the coverage of the BRICS summit. With the convergence of the five emerging economy heads, a new door in India-China ties seemed to be opening, as word was out soon after the conference began that a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping had been confirmed. But how wide would this door be set ajar by the two principals? Would it be tightly shut once again by new headwinds that may be brewing, but were yet beyond perception?
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