India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes arms with Chinese President Xi Jinping throughout a gathering on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Tianjin, China, on Aug. 31, 2025.
Press Information Bureau | Via Reuters
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated New Delhi was dedicated to bettering ties with China in a key assembly with President Xi Jinping on Sunday, as each leaders mentioned the necessity to develop commerce and funding ties in opposition to the backdrop of U.S. tariffs.
Modi is in China for the primary time in seven years to attend a two-day assembly of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, together with Russian President Vladimir Putin and different leaders from Central, South and Southeast Asia and the Middle East, in a present of Global South solidarity.
The assembly comes days after Washington imposed 50% tariffs on Indian items in response to New Delhi’s buy of Russian oil, a transfer analysts say has pushed Modi and Xi to align in opposition to Western pressures.
Modi stated India and China pursued strategic autonomy, and their ties shouldn’t be seen via the lens of a 3rd nation, based on an Indian overseas ministry readout of the assembly.
Modi emphasised lowering India’s commerce deficit with China and increasing cooperation on regional and international points, together with terrorism and truthful commerce practices, the ministry added.
The leaders additionally mentioned increasing frequent floor on bilateral, regional, and international points, and challenges like terrorism and truthful commerce in multilateral platforms, the Indian assertion stated.
“We are committed to progressing our relations based on mutual respect, trust and sensitivities,” Modi advised Xi throughout the assembly on the sidelines of the summit, based on a video posted on his official X account.
At a reception for the summit Xi advised leaders that the SCO now bears “greater responsibilities” for safeguarding regional peace and stability, and for enhancing improvement of varied nations, Chinese state information company Xinhua reported on Sunday.
Border concern
Modi stated an environment of “peace and stability” has been created on their disputed Himalayan border, the positioning of a protracted navy standoff after lethal troop clashes in 2020, which froze most areas of cooperation between the nuclear-armed strategic rivals.
He added that an settlement had been reached between each nations concerning border administration, with out giving particulars. The neighbours share a 3,800 km (2,400 miles) border that’s poorly demarcated and has been disputed for the reason that Nineteen Fifties.
“We must … not let the border issue define the overall China-India relationship,” Xinhua reported Xi as saying.
China-India ties may very well be “stable and far-reaching” if either side targeted on viewing one another as companions as an alternative of rivals, Xi added.
Both leaders had a breakthrough assembly in Russia final yr after reaching a border patrol settlement, setting off a tentative thaw in ties that has accelerated in current weeks as New Delhi seeks to hedge in opposition to renewed tariff threats from Washington.
Direct flights between each nations, which have been suspended since 2020, are being resumed, Modi added, with out offering a timeframe.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his spouse, Peng Liyuan, pose for a household photograph with worldwide visitors at a welcome banquet for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit, in Tianjin, China, on Aug. 31, 2025.
China Daily | Via Reuters
China had agreed to elevate export curbs on uncommon earths, fertilizers and tunnel boring machines this month throughout a key go to to India by China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
China opposes Washington’s steep tariffs on India and can “firmly stand with India,” Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong stated this month.
For many years, Washington painstakingly cultivated ties with New Delhi within the hope that it might act as a regional counterweight to Beijing.
In current months, China has allowed Indian pilgrims to go to Hindu and Buddhist websites in Tibet, and each nations have lifted reciprocal vacationer visa restrictions.
“Both India and China are engaged in what is likely to be a lengthy and fraught process of defining a new equilibrium in the relationship,” stated Manoj Kewalramani, a Sino-Indian relations knowledgeable on the Takshashila Institution suppose tank in Bengaluru.
However, different long-term irritants stay within the relationship.
China is India’s largest bilateral commerce accomplice, however the long-running commerce deficit – a persistent supply of frustration for Indian officers – reached a report $99.2 billion this yr.
Meanwhile, a deliberate Chinese mega-dam in Tibet has sparked fears of mass water diversion that would cut back water flows on the key Brahmaputra River by as much as 85% within the dry season, based on Indian authorities estimates.
India additionally hosts the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan Buddhist non secular chief whom Beijing views as a harmful separatist affect. India’s arch-rival Pakistan additionally advantages from staunch Chinese financial, diplomatic and navy assist.