TIANJIN: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday told Chinese President Xi Jinping that India remains committed to advancing bilateral ties on the basis of “mutual trust, respect and sensitivity.” The two leaders held wide-ranging talks on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, seeking to reset relations strained in recent years.
In his televised remarks, Modi stressed that the welfare of 2.8 billion people is linked to cooperation between India and China. He also highlighted recent progress, noting peace and stability along the border after last year’s disengagement, the resumption of direct flights, and the revival of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.
The prime minister said there was consensus between the Special Representatives of both countries on managing the boundary issue, a mechanism created to address border-related concerns. Modi also congratulated Xi on China’s successful presidency of the SCO.
The outcomes of the talks are yet to be made public. Modi’s visit comes amid global economic turbulence triggered by the U.S.-China tariff dispute and less than two weeks after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s talks in New Delhi, where both sides agreed on steps to maintain peace along the frontier, reopen border trade, and resume direct flights.
Speaking ahead of his visit, Modi told Japan’s The Yomiuri Shimbun that stable and amicable India-China relations would contribute to regional and global peace and prosperity. He underlined the importance of the two major economies working together to stabilise the world economic order.
This is Modi’s first visit to China since the eastern Ladakh border row of May 2020. His last meeting with Xi was in October 2024 in Kazan, Russia, shortly after India and China reached an understanding to end the prolonged standoff in the region.
