PM Narendra Modi China Visit: Preparations are underway to schedule a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to China where leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation will gather for the Summit in Tianjin from August 31 to September 1, sources said Wednesday. On the sidelines of the Summit, if the visit materialises, Modi is also expected to hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, a meeting that will take place amid rising tensions with the US over trade tariffs and purchase of Russian oil. The two leaders last met on October 23, 2024 on the margins of the BRICS Summit in the Russian city of Kazan, setting the stage for the disengagement of troops at two friction points along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh and resumption of patrolling. The Prime Minister’s visit, which sources said is still being planned, will be his first to China in seven years – the last visit was in 2018. The military standoff along the LAC in eastern Ladakh began in May 2020 following Chinese incursions. The disengagement process was completed in November 2024, days after the meeting in Kazan. The two countries have since sought to repair ties, resuming the Mansarovar Yatra, visas for Chinese tourists and looking at revival of direct flights. But these efforts took a hit in May when India came across evidence of active Chinese assistance to the Pakistan military during the hostilities that followed Operation Sindoor. India said Chinese weapons and drones were used by Pakistan and Beijing helped Rawalpindi with live intelligence during the military confrontation. Incidentally, Modi’s last visit to China in 2018 was also for a Summit of the SCO leaders in Qingdao in June that year. Xi travelled to India in October 2019, months before the Chinese incursions in eastern Ladakh. The government, sources said, will be taking a final call on Modi’s visit and an announcement will be made once the plans are finalised. In the months after the meeting in Kazan, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri travelled to China. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also travelled to China last month for a meeting of the SCO Foreign Ministers in Tianjin. While the disengagement process has been completed in eastern Ladakh, Indian and Chinese troops, some 50,000-60,000 on each side, remain deployed along the LAC in the region. Delhi and Beijing are discussing the roadmap to de-escalation and de-induction of military forces.
