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PM Modi to meet Xi Jinping today ahead of SCO summit amid thaw in India-China relations
PM Narendra Modi's visit marks the second meeting between the two leaders in 10 months. They last met on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Russia's Kazan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in China and will meet President Xi Jinping on Sunday ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin.
The PM will be in Tianjin, northern China, from August 31 to September 1, for the SCO summit.
"Landed in Tianjin, China. Looking forward to deliberations at the SCO Summit and meeting various world leaders," Modi said in a post on X on Saturday.
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Modi to meet Xi today
The meeting is scheduled for around noon local time (9:30 AM IST) with a 40-minute time slot and comes amid a thaw in relations between India and China.
It is also PM Modi's first visit to China in seven years and the second meeting between Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in ten months. The last meeting between the two was held on the sidelines of the BRICS 2024 summit in Russia's Kazan.
While a bilateral meeting with the host at a multilateral summit is not uncommon, the Modi-Xi meeting takes special significance in the backdrop of a strained ties between India and the US after President Donald Trump's 50 percent tariffs on New Delhi for buying Russian oil.
It also comes soon after Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi's visit to New Delhi earlier this month, during which both nations reached a 10-point consensus in border talks with NSA Ajit Doval.
Thaw in India-China ties
Following the 2024 meeting between Modi and Xi, a thaw in India-China ties became evident. Talks between delegations from both countries led to the resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, Indian visas for Chinese tourists, and steps to revive direct flights between the two countries.
Ahead of Modi's visit to China for the SCO Summit, NSA Ajit Doval and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi held the 24th Round of Talks on the India-China Boundary Question on August 19 in Delhi.
"During the talks, a 10-point consensus was reached, and the two sides agreed to utilise the border management and control mechanisms through diplomatic and military channels," China's defence spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang said, commenting for the first time on the outcome of the dialogue.
The Doval-Wang talks produced five concrete outcomes, including establishing an expert group under the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) to explore an "early harvest in boundary delimitation."
The border-related mechanisms and talks, as well as bilateral trade and investments, are expected to be carried forward at the meeting between the two leaders.
