Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit China for the regional SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) summit from August 31 to September 1, clubbing his trip with a visit to Japan for the annual summit, people familiar with the matter said.
If the visit takes place, it will be PM Modi’s first trip to China since 2018 and after the eastern Ladakh border standoff.
Though the prime minister had met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan in October 2024. Their first structured meeting since October 2019 also came just days after India and China reached an agreement on patrolling along their disputed border.
During the October 2024 meeting, PM Modi had told the Chinese President that maintaining peace and stability on the border should remain their “priority”.
“This is our first formal meeting after five years. Excellency, 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,” he said at the meeting.
Meanwhile, Xi Jinping said that it was important for India and China to have more communication and cooperation and properly handle “differences and disagreements”.
He 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 sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The decision followed a meeting between foreign secretary Vikram Misri and Chinese vice foreign minister Sun Weidong in New Delhi. The two sides further agreed to expedite the efforts to resume direct air services, which have remained suspended since 2020.
India-China ties this year
In June, Defence minister Rajnath Singh refused to sign the joint communique of the SCO defence ministers’ meeting, citing its failure to mention the terrorism-related concerns.
While Singh attended the meeting in China’s Qingdao, he did not sign the joint statement as it omitted the mention of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, but mentioned the Jaffar Express hijacking in Pakistan by the Balochistan Liberation Army, HT had reported.
China had strongly supported Pakistan during the four-day clash with India under Operation Sindoor.
However, after the United States designated The Resistance Front (TRF), a Lashkar-e-Taiba proxy that claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack, as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO), China denounced the April 22 attack 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,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian.
SCO, the 10-nation Eurasian security and political grouping, has China, Russia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus as members.
