China has extended a warm welcome to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his visit to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, scheduled for August 31–September 1, signalling Beijing’s intent to strengthen ties with New Delhi amid global tensions over US President Donald Trump’s steep tariffs on Indian goods.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun described the Tianjin summit as the largest since the SCO’s inception in 2001, expressing confidence that it will mark “a new stage of high-quality development” for the bloc, with greater solidarity, coordination, and productivity. The SCO currently has 10 members — Belarus, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan — and will also host leaders of 10 international organisations.

PM Modi’s visit will be his first to China since the 2020 Galwan Valley clash, which severely strained bilateral relations. His last trip was in 2019, and he last met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan in October 2024, a meeting that set the stage for renewed efforts to ease tensions.

On the sidelines of the Tianjin summit, PM Modi is expected to hold bilateral talks with both President Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin. These meetings come at a critical moment, as the US has imposed a 50% tariff on Indian goods — partly as a penalty for India’s continued imports of Russian crude oil — prompting speculation that India may seek to recalibrate its strategic alignments.

The summit also takes place against the backdrop of persistent friction over China’s support to Pakistan. At an earlier SCO defence ministers’ meeting, India’s Rajnath Singh refused to endorse a joint statement that mentioned Balochistan but ignored the Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed 26 Indian lives.

PM Modi’s Tianjin visit will thus be closely watched for its diplomatic balancing and potential breakthroughs.

China has extended a warm welcome to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his visit to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, scheduled for August 31–September 1, signalling Beijing’s intent to strengthen ties with New Delhi amid global tensions over US President Donald Trump’s steep tariffs on Indian goods.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun described the Tianjin summit as the largest since the SCO’s inception in 2001, expressing confidence that it will mark “a new stage of high-quality development” for the bloc, with greater solidarity, coordination, and productivity. The SCO currently has 10 members — Belarus, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan — and will also host leaders of 10 international organisations.

PM Modi’s visit will be his first to China since the 2020 Galwan Valley clash, which severely strained bilateral relations. His last trip was in 2019, and he last met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan in October 2024, a meeting that set the stage for renewed efforts to ease tensions.

On the sidelines of the Tianjin summit, PM Modi is expected to hold bilateral talks with both President Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin. These meetings come at a critical moment, as the US has imposed a 50% tariff on Indian goods — partly as a penalty for India’s continued imports of Russian crude oil — prompting speculation that India may seek to recalibrate its strategic alignments.

The summit also takes place against the backdrop of persistent friction over China’s support to Pakistan. At an earlier SCO defence ministers’ meeting, India’s Rajnath Singh refused to endorse a joint statement that mentioned Balochistan but ignored the Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed 26 Indian lives.

PM Modi’s Tianjin visit will thus be closely watched for its diplomatic balancing and potential breakthroughs.