Tianjin (China): The much anticipated meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese president Xi Jinping has begun in Tianjin, China. The meeting is expected to last 40 minutes.
Sources have said that Modi has highlighted the importance of mutual trust and respect between the two neighbours as a starting point of the meeting.
Modi is accompanied by foreign secretary Vikram Misri and national security adviser Ajit Doval in the meeting, officials said. Foreign minister S Jaishankar dropped out of the China trip on health grounds.
PM Modi is in China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit. His meeting with Xi comes at a time when the US has imposed 50% tariffs on Indian goods and threatened China with 200% duties.
Ever since US president Donald Trump announced his tariff war, China has been reaching out to India for a restoration of ties. These include cross-border trade and restoration of direct flights between the two countries. While cross-border trade has already started, the Indian government has asked airlines to be on standby to restore direct flights at short notice.
The announcement for this may come after the Modi-Xi meet, some believe. A peaceful resolution of the border issue is also likely to be discussed during the meeting.
Relations between India and China took a nosedive after the 2020 Galwan clash that left 20 Indian and an unspecified number of Chinese soldiers dead. A military stand-off between the two countries began immediately after that. Though the situation has eased considerably since then, there are still two friction points.
