New Delhi| Aug, 6: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Tianjin, China, to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit from August 31 to September 1. This will also be his first visit to China since the Galwan Valley clash in 2020. His last visit to China was in 2019.
Before attending the SCO summit, PM Modi is scheduled to visit Japan on August 30, where he will participate in the annual India-Japan Summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. From there, he will head to China, according to sources.
Ahead of PM Modi’s visit, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval travelled to China for a series of SCO meetings, followed by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s visit to Beijing, where he met Chinese President Xi.
PM Modi’s visit also comes at a time when Donald Trump has targeted the Brics nations for buying oil from Russia and for what the US President claims is a grouping that challenges the hegemony of the dollar. Russia, which is also an SCO member state, will be sending its representatives to Tianjin. Although it’s not yet clear if Russian President Vladimir Putin will be attending the Summit, scheduled for later this month.
While China was at the forefront of the US tariff war, with duty rates reaching triple digits, the Trump administration has rolled back most of them, bringing the current rate down to 30 per cent amid ongoing discussions. On the other hand, Trump has also cracked down on another Brics nation, India, over its trade with Russia, imposing a 25 per cent tariff and threatening to levy even more.
In June, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh attended the Defence Ministers’ meeting of the SCO in Qingdao, China, where he refused to sign a document that, as per sources, would have diluted India’s stand on terrorism and the Pahalgam terror attack, which left 26 dead. Due to divergence on the issue of terrorism, the SCO decided not to issue a joint statement.
According to sources, China, which holds the SCO chair, and its “all-weather friend” Pakistan tried to divert the attention from terrorism in the SCO document, skipping any mention of the Pahalgam attack. However, the document mentioned Balochistan, a veiled attempt to accuse India of creating unrest in the Pakistani province.
However, in July, China “strongly” condemned the Pahalgam terror attacks following the US’s decision to designate The Resistance Front as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation.
“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.
SCO has nine member states, namely, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Iran, and Uzbekistan.
