Underlining that relations between India and China have got a positive direction since last year’s meeting in Kazan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday that “mutual trust, respect and sensitivity” will be the basis of their taking bilateral ties forward.
Meeting President Xi ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin — about 120 km away from Beijing — Modi said that they had had a “productive conversation in Kazan” and peace and stability has been maintained after the disengagement at the border.
He said that the Special Representatives of the two countries have had an agreement on border management, the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra has resumed and both countries are also restarting direct flights.
Modi said that the well-being of 2.8 billion people in India and China depends on the “cooperation” between the two countries, and this will also lead to the welfare of humanity.
He thanked President Xi for the warm welcome and congratulated him for the successful presidency of SCO.
Modi and Xi met for about an hour, accompanied by key officials from both sides. On the Indian side, PM Modi was accompanied by NSA Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, while Chinese Foreign minister and Politburo member Wang Yi sat along with President Xi.
As the two countries move to repair ties after a five-year military standoff along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh, the two leaders met at around noon local time Sunday, before the SCO summit kicked off.
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The two leaders meeting for a second time in 10 months — Modi and Xi last met in the Russian city of Kazan in October 2024 on the sidelines of the BRICS summit — signals that the two countries are going to give a special thrust to bilateral ties, and Delhi will be keen to push for a “step-by-step” stabilisation of the relationship.
The Prime Minister flew into Tianjin from Japan, his first to China in seven years, for the SCO summit from August 31 to September 1.
“Landed in Tianjin, China. Looking forward to deliberations at the SCO Summit and meeting various world leaders,” Modi had said in a post on X, also indicating the focus was the multilateral summit.
The Modi-Xi meeting in Kazan in October 2024 resulted in disengagement of troops from two key friction points in eastern Ladakh, followed by talks leading to the resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, Indian visas for Chinese tourists and steps for revival of direct flights between the two countries.
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These efforts to repair ties did take a hit in May when India came across evidence of active Chinese assistance to the Pakistan military during the hostilities that followed Operation Sindoor. On August 19, Wang Yi met Modi in Delhi and handed him an invitation from Xi to attend the SCO summit.
The difficult issue of de-escalation in eastern Ladakh still remains and the two sides have agreed to move forward on that as well. An estimated 50,000 to 60,000 troops are stationed on either side of the LAC in the region.
