Beijing, Aug 08: China on Friday warmly welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming visit to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin, set for August 31 to September 1, marking his first trip to China in over seven years.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun expressed optimism that the summit, the largest in SCO history with leaders from over 20 countries and 10 international organizations, will foster solidarity, friendship, and significant outcomes.
Modi is expected to visit Japan around August 29 before heading to Tianjin, where the SCO aims to achieve greater coordination and dynamic 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.
Guo said, “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.
However, there is no official confirmation yet on Modi’s two-nation visit to Japan and China.
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.
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.
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.
China is the current chair of the SCO.
It is not immediately clear whether PM Modi and President Xi will hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the SCO summit.
It is expected that Russian President Vladimir Putin will be among the top leaders who will participate in the SCO summit.
The SCO, comprising India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Belarus, is an influential economic and security bloc that has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations.
It was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Pakistan became a permanent member along with India in 2017. Iran joined the grouping in 2023 and Belarus in 2024.
