China on Friday extended a warm welcome to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his scheduled visit to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin later this month. Describing the upcoming meeting as an opportunity for "solidarity, friendship and fruitful results," Chinese officials expressed optimism about the potential outcomes of the high-profile meeting.
PM Modi is likely to travel to China for the SCO Summit, marking his first visit to the country in over seven years. The visit is expected to serve as a key moment for diplomatic engagement among member states, focusing on regional cooperation, strategic dialogue and mutual development. "China welcomes Prime Minister Modi to China for the SCO Tianjin Summit," Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun said while responding to a question on reports about Modi's visit to China to attend the Tianjin summit to be held from August 31 to September 1, as per the news agency PTI.
"We believe that with the concerted effort of all parties, the Tianjin summit will be a gathering of solidarity, friendship and fruitful results, and the SCO will enter a new stage of high-quality development featuring greater solidarity, coordination, dynamism and productiveness," Guo added.
SCO Summit to see large turnout
Guo said that leaders of over 20 countries, including all member states of the SCO and heads of 10 international organisations, will attend relevant events. "The SCO Tianjin Summit will be the largest summit in scale since the establishment of the SCO," the spokesperson added. PM Modi last visited China in June 2018 to attend the SCO summit. Chinese President Xi Jinping visited India in October 2019 for the second "informal summit". However, the relationship came under stress due to the eastern Ladakh border face-off.
India-China tensions and progress
The military standoff in eastern Ladakh began in May 2020 and the clashes at the Galwan Valley in June that year resulted in a severe strain in ties. The face-off effectively ended following completion of the disengagement process from the last two friction points of Demchok and Depsang under an agreement finalised on October 21 last year.
In the last few months, both sides revived the Special Representative dialogue on the boundary question and other dialogue mechanisms. The decision to revive various dialogue mechanisms was taken at a meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi at Kazan in Russia on October 23, 2024.
Positive moves since Kazan meeting
The Modi-Xi meeting came two days after India and China firmed up a disengagement pact for Depsang and Demchok. The two sides also took a number of initiatives to rebuild the ties, which included the resumption of Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and New Delhi restarting issuance of tourist visas to Chinese nationals. Both sides are also discussing modalities to resume direct flight services between the two countries. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and NSA Ajit Doval visited China in the last two months to attend the SCO meetings.
(With inputs from PTI)
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