Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold bilateral meeting on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin on Sunday.
PM Modi is visiting China at the invitation of President Xi after he concluded his two-day visit to Japan for diplomatic talks.
This marks PM Modi’s first trip to China in seven years and is the first since the June 2020 Galwan Valley clash between Indian and Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The two leaders had their last meeting at the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, in 2024. Bilateral talks made headway after India and China reached agreement on patrolling procedures along the virtually 3,500-km LAC, effectively ending a border standoff which lasted four years.
On August 21, China’s Ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, stated that PM Modi’s participation in the Tianjin SCO Summit will “give a fresh impetus to the improvement and development of relations between both countries.”
"The visit of Prime Minister Modi to China will be a very important event not only for the SCO but for the bilateral relationship between the two countries. A working group from China and India is working very hard to make this visit a successful one. From our side, we attach great importance to this visit. It will be a very successful one," Xu Feihong told reporters on the sidelines of an event in New Delhi.
On August 19, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had called on Prime Minister Modi in New Delhi, handing over a message and invitation from President Xi Jinping to the PM for the two-day SCO Summit beginning August 31.
"Glad to meet Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Since my meeting with President Xi in Kazan last year, India-China relations have made steady progress guided by respect for each other's interests and sensitivities. I look forward to our next meeting in Tianjin on the sidelines of the SCO Summit. Stable, predictable, constructive ties between India and China will contribute significantly to regional as well as global peace and prosperity," PM Modi posted on X after the meeting.
During their conversation, PM Modi emphasized on the importance of maintaining peace and tranquility along the border and reiterated India’s commitment to finding a fair, just and mutually acceptable resolution to the boundary issue.
"Prime Minister welcomed the steady and positive progress in bilateral ties since his meeting with President Xi in Kazan last year, guided by mutual respect, mutual interest and mutual sensitivity, including the resumption of the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra," read a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO)
"Prime Minister thanked President Xi for the invitation to the SCO Summit and conveyed his acceptance. He expressed support for China's Presidency of the SCO Summit and said that he looked forward to meeting President Xi in Tianjin. The PM underlined that stable, predictable, and constructive ties between India and China will contribute significantly to regional and global peace and prosperity," it added.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation that was formed when its member states signed the founding documentation in Shanghai in June 15, 2001.
Its full member states include China, Russia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, and Belarus. The SCO has two observer countries, Afghanistan and Mongolia, as well as 14 dialogue partner countries including Turkey, Kuwait, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Bahrain, the Maldives, Myanmar, and the United Arab Emirates.
