India’s PM Modi meets Xi on his first China trip in seven years as Trump’s tariffs bite

By R Anil Kumar

• Modi says atmosphere of ‘peace and stability’ created on disputed Himalayan border

• Meeting between Asian rivals comes five days after punishing US tariffs on India take effect

• Xi, Modi seek to present united front against Western pressure

Tianjin, China. A much-anticipated meeting of the leaders of the world’s two most populous nations took place on August 31 with China’s President Xi Jinping Welcoming India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of regional summit in Tianjin – as the neighbours explore a rapprochement accelerated by their shared frictions with the United States.

Xi and Modi met at the Tianjin Guest House in what is the Indian leader’s first visit to China in seven years. The two shook hands and posed for cameras before their sit-down, which comes as both nations face stiff US tariffs as well as western scrutiny over their relationships with Russia as the war in Ukraine rages.

Modi thanked Xi for his invitation to China, saying an “agreement has been reached” between special representatives from both countries regarding “border management,” referring to tensions at their disputed border that escalated after a deadly 2020 skirmish and cratered relations at the time.

“We are committed to taking our relations forward on the basis of mutual trust and respect,” Modi said.

India committed to improving ties with China, Modi tells Xi

PM Modi said New Delhi committed to improving ties with Beijing in a key meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a regional security forum on Sunday, August 31.

“We are committed to progressing our relations based on mutual respect, trust and sensitivities,” Modi told Xi during the meeting, according to a video clip posted on the PM’s official X account.

The bilateral meeting took place five days after Washington imposed punishing 50% tariffs on Indian goods due to New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil.

Modi said an atmosphere of “peace and stability” has been created on their disputed Himalayan border, the site of a prolonged military standoff after deadly troop clashes in 2020, which froze most areas of cooperation between the nuclear-armed strategic rivals.

He added that an agreement had been reached between both nations regarding border management, without giving details.

Both leaders had a breakthrough meeting in Russia last year after reaching a border patrol agreement, setting off a tentative thaw in ties that has accelerated in recent weeks as New Delhi seeks to hedge against renewed tariff threats from Washington.

Modi is in China for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a Beijing-and Moscow-backed regional security grouping that has emerged as a cornerstone of Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s drive to rebalance global power in their favour.

The Indian leader’s attendance and the sit-down with Xi marks a milestone in relations between Beijing and New Delhi, which have begun to ease their frictions – a shift that becomes more valuable to India in the wake of a surprise negative turn in US-India ties in recent weeks.

The trip will also give Modi an opportunity to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the two expected to hold bilateral talks on Monday, September 1, according to Russian state media.

Those come just after hefty US tariffs on Indian exports kicked in, linked to Indian purchases of Russian oil, which Washington sees as helping to funding Putin’s war in Ukraine.

The war in Ukraine will loom over the SCO gathering and the flurry of diplomacy around it, coming as Western leaders ramp up pressure on Putin – and his partners – to end the now more than three- and- half year invasion.

US President Donald Trump earlier this month levied significant economic penalties on India, initially placing its imports into the US under 25% tariffs and then slapping an additional 25% duties on the country as punishment for importing Russian oil and gas. Both China and India are major purchasers of Russian oil.

India has said it does not take sides in the war. Modi said he spoke with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky Saturday, August 30, and “exchanged views on the ongoing conflict.”

Beijing has touted this year’s gathering as the largest of the summit yet, with officials saying more than 20 leaders would attend, including those of SCO countries, which in addition to China, Russia, and India, include Iran, Pakistan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Beijing is widely seen as happy for the newfound tensions between Trump and Modi to reduce what have been burgeoning security ties between the two partners. Chinese officials have watched with unease the elevation of the Quad security dialogue between India, the US and its allies Australia and Japan, widely seen as a bid to counter China.

There has been a gradual normalization of ties between India and China after Modi and Xi met on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Russia last October, which came as the two sides reached an agreement on military disengagement along their disputed border.

In recent months, the countries agreed to restart direct flights cancelled since the Covid-19 pandemic, Beijing also recently agreed to reopen two pilgrimage sites in western Tibet to Indians for the first time in five years, and both started re-issuing tourist visas for each other’s citizens.

Earlier this month, following a visit from China’s top diplomat Wang Yi to New Delhi, the two announced “ten points of consensus” on the issue to further reduce tensions.

Both nations maintain a heavy military presence along their 2,100-mile (3,379-kilometer) de facto border, known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC) – a boundary that remains undefined and has been a persistent source of friction since their bloody 1962 war.

India at SCO

Since joining the SCO in 2017, India has appeared to some observers as an uneasy member of the group; placing the world’s largest democracy in a club that includes a number of autocrats and one that the key partners – Beijing and Moscow – have sought to shape into a force to counter a US-led world order – an aim at odds with New Delhi’s more non-aligned foreign policy.

India also sits in SCO alongside its rival Pakistan. The Tianjin summit will serve as the first time Modi will gather alongside Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif since the two countries engaged in a deadly, four-day conflict earlier this year.

The summit will also give Modi a key opportunity to sit down with long-term partner Putin, at a moment when India’s purchases of Russian oil are under pressure from the American tariffs.

Chinese refineries have placed new orders for Russian crude that will be shipped from ports that typically supply India, as demand from the South Asian country for Moscow’s crude slipped following the tariffs.

(This is a developing story and keeps updated)