This would be Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first visit to China after the 2020 Ladakh standoff
Beijing: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to travel to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit to be held in Tianjin City from August 31-September 1. This will be PM Modi's first visit to China since the Galwan clash in 2020, which severely strained bilateral ties.
PM Modi had earlier traveled to China in 2019. He also held a meeting with the Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Russia's Kazan in 2024. The breakthrough in bilateral talks, first after the Galwan Valley face-off between the soldiers of the two countries at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in June 2020, was made possible after New Delhi and Beijing reached an agreement on patrolling along the nearly 3500-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) to end the four-year-long border confrontation.
In July, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar visited China to attend the Meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers in Tianjin. He also held discussions with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on the sidelines of the event. He also called on Chinese President Xi Jinping, along with his fellow SCO Foreign Ministers.
Earlier in June, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh visited China to attend the SCO Defense Ministers Meeting. India had refused to endorse the joint declaration at the SCO Defense Ministers’ meeting, citing the exclusion of concerns around terrorism as a key reason.
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Putin to visit India soon Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit India later this year, and the dates are currently being finalized, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval confirmed during his visit to Moscow. During his meeting with Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu, Doval said New Delhi is "excited and delighted" about the upcoming engagement. He also described the past India-Russia summits as "watershed moments" in bilateral relations, underlining the significance of the forthcoming meeting. "You have very rightly mentioned that we have a very special relationship, a long relationship, and we highly value our strategic partnership. We have had high-level engagements, and these high-level engagements have contributed very substantially. We are very excited and delighted to learn about the visit of President Putin to India. I think that the dates are almost finalised now," said Ajit Doval. It should be noted that PM Modi and President Putin met twice last year – once during PM Modi's visit to Moscow in July for the 22nd India-Russia summit, which marked his first bilateral trip since beginning his third term in office. The second time, the two leaders met again in October in Kazan, when PM Modi attended the BRICS Summit. |
