As the two leaders met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) conference in China‘s port city of Tianjin on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Chinese President Xi Jinping that mutual trust and respect must govern India-China relations.
In addition to sending a message to US President Donald Trump, whose tariff onslaught has damaged Washington’s relations with both Beijing and New Delhi, the closely awaited bilateral started with a hard handshake, marking the next stage in the rapprochement between the two longtime adversaries.
PM Modi highlighted recent developments in bilateral relations during the one-hour discussion, including the restart of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, the reinstatement of direct flights between the two nations, and an agreement reached by special representatives on the border stalemate.
“Our collaboration is tied to the interests of both countries’ 2.8 billion citizens. Additionally, this will open the door for the well-being of all people,” the prime minister declared.
“We are committed to taking our relations forward on the basis of mutual trust, respect and sensitivity,” he stated.
According to a readout from the Ministry of External Affairs, the Prime Minister stated that China and India both strive for strategic autonomy and that their interactions should not be viewed through the prism of a third country.
According to the statement, the two presidents also decided that they needed to broaden their areas of agreement on bilateral, regional, and international problems and issues, such as fair trade and terrorism, in multilateral forums.
“THE ELEPHANT AND THE DRAGON”
Xi, on his part, welcomed PM Modi and called New Delhi a “vital friend” of Beijing. He stated that the two nations must handle their relationship “from a strategic and long-term perspective”.
According to state-run Xinhua, Xi stated, “We must not let the border issue define the overall China-India relationship.”
The two Asian giants’ relationship might be “promising, stable, and far-reaching” if both parties concentrated on seeing one another as partners rather than adversaries, he continued.
Additionally, the Chinese president informed PM Modi that the globe is undergoing once-in-a-century changes at the moment.
“The global situation is unstable and ever-changing. In addition to being the two most populous nations in the world, China and India are also the oldest members of the Global South and two ancient eastern civilizations,” he remarked.
“It is vital to be friends, a good neighbour, and the Dragon and the Elephant to come together,” he said.
The last time PM Modi visited China was seven years ago. In 2018, after the severe Doklam conflict, he made his final trip to Wuhan. This time, as the two Asian giants negotiate the turmoil brought on by Trump’s tariff volley, the emphasis is on strategic and economic alignment.
In recent days, China has forcefully blasted the US as a “bully” and stated that it “firmly stands with India” in response to the punitive 50% tariffs on Indian exports.
In the midst of continued negotiations, Trump postponed the reintroduction of heavy tariffs on Beijing by an additional ninety days, resulting in an uncomfortable trade truce between the United States and China.
Trump’s warning of 200 percent tariffs earlier this week if Beijing reduced its exports of rare-earth magnets to the US further enraged Beijing.
US Tariffs Unite Modi, Xi, and Putin
The first meeting between the two leaders since the US increased tariffs on Indian goods to 50% over New Delhi’s unwillingness to cease purchasing Russian oil is also planned for Monday in Tianjin, where PM Modi will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
India had been cautiously warming up to China as a source of technology and investment while looking to increase commerce even before to Washington’s punishing tariffs.
After years of hostility since the Doklam impasse, relations between the two neighbors reached their lowest point with the tragic skirmishes in Galwan in 2020. After a protracted freeze during which they avoided one another at international forums, relations finally started to warm up last October when PM and Xi met at the Brics summit in Russia. The two sides decided to disengage at the remaining sites of friction along the Line of Actual Control before that meeting.
Now that US-India relations are deteriorating, New Delhi has a new reason to defuse the situation with Beijing. Analysts claim that decades of US diplomacy portraying India as a counterbalance to China have been upended by Trump’s trade war.
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