NEW DELHI: Sensing a golden opportunity to strengthen ties with India after the Trump administration imposed 50 per cent tariffs on New Delhi, China on Friday welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s forthcoming visit to Tianjin for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in Beijing, “With the concerted effort of all parties, the Tianjin summit will be a gathering of solidarity, friendship and fruitful results. The SCO will enter a new stage of high-quality development featuring greater coordination, dynamism and productivity.” New Delhi has not yet officially announced Modi’s visit, which is expected at the end of this month or early next month. Just a day earlier, Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong took a thinly veiled swipe at US President Donald Trump on X (formerly Twitter), stating, “Give the bully an inch and he will take a mile,” and added that using tariffs to suppress other nations violates both the UN Charter and WTO rules. Beijing has urged New Delhi to oppose American “hegemony” and advocated a “tango between the (Chinese) dragon and the (Indian) elephant.” The SCO comprises nine member states, China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Iran, and the Central Asian nations Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Russian ally Belarus is slated to join as the 10th member, making the bloc a China- and Russia-led grouping in many observers’ eyes. Modi’s expected trip to China will be his first since the deadly Galwan Valley clash in June 2020. He last visited China twice in 2018, first to meet President Xi Jinping informally in Wuhan, and then for the SCO Summit in Qingdao two months later. President Xi visited India in October 2019 for an informal summit near Chennai. During the upcoming summit, Modi is almost certain to hold a bilateral meeting with President Xi, his second in a year. The two leaders met on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan in October last year, where they announced a military disengagement pact in Depsang and Demchok, Ladakh. Relations had been strained after Chinese troops amassed along the Line of Actual Control in April–May 2020, culminating in the Galwan Valley clash that left soldiers dead on both sides. Now, the two Asian giants are rebuilding ties: for example, the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage of Hindu devotees to Tibet has already resumed this year.
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