Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit China later this month to take part in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit. The summit will take place in Tianjin City from August 31 to September 1. This will be PM Modi’s first visit to China since the 2020 Galwan Valley clash, which caused serious tensions between India and China.
The last time PM Modi went to China was in 2019. In 2024, he met Chinese President Xi Jinping during the BRICS Summit held in Kazan, Russia. That meeting was seen as a sign of improving relations after years of silence following the Galwan clash.
In recent months, India and China have worked towards solving their long-running border issues. They agreed on new rules for patrolling the nearly 3,500-kilometre Line of Actual Control (LAC). This deal helped both sides begin to end the four-year border standoff that began after the deadly clash in 2020.
In July, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar also went to China for the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Tianjin. There, he spoke with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. He also met President Xi Jinping along with foreign ministers from other SCO countries.
In June, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited China for the SCO Defence Ministers’ meeting. India chose not to support the joint statement made at that meeting because it didn’t include any mention of terrorism. India said it had asked for the document to reflect concerns about terrorism, but one country objected, so the final statement was not accepted. During his visit, Singh had a detailed talk with his Chinese counterpart Admiral Don Jun. They discussed ways to improve ties between the two countries.
India’s National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval also went to China recently. He attended the 20th meeting of the Security Council Secretaries of SCO members in Beijing. In his speech, Doval strongly spoke against countries using “double standards” in fighting terrorism. He asked SCO members to take strong steps against terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), and their networks.
The SCO is a group of countries that work together on regional security and cooperation. It was created on June 15, 2001, in Shanghai. Its member countries include India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Belarus.