New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit from August 31 to September 1. He will club this trip with his scheduled visit to Japan, officials said. If the trip takes place, it will be Modi’s first visit to China since 2018 and the Galwan clash of 2020 that resulted in a military stand-off between the two Asian giants.
This visit is being seen as important by many as it comes at a time when US president Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on India as well as China and several other nations for purchasing crude from Russia.
The Prime Minister had last met Chinese premier Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan in October 2024. During this meeting, Modi had told Jinping that maintaining peace and stability along the border should remain their “priority”.
“We welcome the agreements that we have reached over the border. Maintaining peace and tranquillity over the border should remain our priority, and mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual sensitivity should remain the basis of our relationship. I am confident that we will hold talks with an open heart and our discussions would be constructive,” PM Modi had said at the meeting.
Jinping had said that it was important for India and China to have more communication and cooperation and properly handle “differences and disagreements”.
He had also said that it was also important for the two countries to shoulder their international responsibility and set an example for boosting the strength and unity of developing countries. Earlier in June this year, India and China agreed to hold talks to resolve specific issues of concern in the fields of trade and economics as they work to stabilize and rebuild bilateral ties following the end of the military face-off in Ladakh. There were also talks of resuming direct flights between the two countries. Direct air connectivity between India and China has remained suspended since 2020.
In June, defence minister Rajnath Singh attended the SCO defence ministers’ meeting in China’s Qingdao but refused to sign the joint communique, citing its failure to mention the Pahalgam terror attack of April 22, while highlighting the Jaffar Express hijacking in Pakistan by members of the Baloch Liberation Army. China had supported Pakistan during Operation Sindoor.
However, there was a change in stance by China later. After the US designated the Lashkar-e-Taiba affiliate The Resistance Front (TRF), which claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack, a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO), China denounced the April 22 strike that killed 26 people and stressed the need for stronger regional collaboration to tackle terrorism and maintain stability.
“China firmly opposes all forms of terrorism and strongly condemns the terrorist attack that occurred on April 22. China calls on regional countries to enhance counterterrorism cooperation and jointly maintain regional security and stability,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said.
SCO is a 10-nation Eurasian security and political grouping that has China, Russia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus as members.
