China welcomes PM Modi for upcoming SCO Summit, seeks to deepen ties with India

The regional bloc's summit will be held in Tianjin city from August 31 to September 1.

Welcoming PM Modi to Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said that the Tianjin Summit will be the largest in scale since the establishment of the SCO.

"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," he added.

The SCO was established in 2001 to promote regional stability through cooperation. The bloc currently comprises 10 members: Belarus, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Modi's visit to China is a significant step marking normalisation in ties between the two nations that were strongly hit after the 2020 Galwan clash.

PM Modi's last visit to China was in 2019.

However, he had met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan in October 2024.

The visit comes amid the imposition of stiff tariffs by US President Donald Trump and increasing pressure on India regarding oil purchases from Russia.

It is expected that under the present circumstances, India's recalibration of ties with China might act as a balancing factor for the US.

India's participation would take place in the wake of China's support for Pakistan even after the Pahalgam terror attack.

In June, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had refused to sign a joint statement at a defence minister's meet under SCO as it skipped any mention of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives.

The document, instead, mentioned Balochistan, tacitly accusing India of creating unrest there.

Pahalgam's exclusion from the document appeared to have been done at the behest of Pakistan.

The next month, though, China issued a strong statement against terror as the US designated The Resistance Front, a proxy of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, as a foreign terrorist organisation for its involvement in the Pahalgam attack.

"China firmly opposes all forms of terrorism and strongly condemns the terrorist attack that occurred on April 22... China calls on regional countries to enhance counterterrorism cooperation and jointly maintain regional security and stability," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian.

This time at the SCO, discussions with 10 member countries are expected to cover terrorism and regional security along with trade.

Efforts will be made to restore stability and dialogue in India-China relations.

PM Modi is likely to have bilateral meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit.