ICS Analysis

This article questions the efficacy of Wuhan and Chennai Summits by analyzing it against the background of two such informal interactions – the Kissinger-Zhou meeting in 1971 and series of North Korea-South Korea informal meetings in 2018-19. Naturally, the circumstances, actors, intentions and mood were all unique and cannot be compared, but nonetheless, they provide a framework to analyze these meetings for what they really are: ‘soft’ instruments of foreign policy. This paper also dwells on the circular dilemma of formal and informal choices considering institutionalizing these informal summits.