Modi lands in China after 7-year gap; all eyes on Sunday talks with Xi

Tianjin: After a gap of over seven years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in China on Saturday evening on a keenly watched visit that assumed greater significance in view of a sudden downturn in India-US ties triggered by Washington's policies on trade and tariff. Modi is visiting this northern Chinese city primarily to attend the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on August 31 and September 1.

However, his scheduled meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday on the margins of the summit has assumed greater significance in the face of Washington's tariff tussle that has impacted almost all leading economies across the world.

In the talks, Modi and Xi are expected to take stock of India-China economic ties and deliberate on steps to further normalise relations that came under severe strain following the eastern Ladakh border row.

"Landed in Tianjin, China. Looking forward to deliberations at the SCO Summit and meeting various world leaders," the prime minister said in a social media post, shortly after arriving here from Japan in the second and final leg of his two-nation trip.

Modi was accorded a warm welcome at his hotel by a group of artiste with Indian classical music and dance.

The prime minister is also expected to hold bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a number of other leaders on the sidelines of the SCO summit.

Ahead of his trip to Tianjin, Modi said it is important for India and China to work together to bring stability to the world economic order.

In an interview with Japan's The Yomiuri Shimbun, Modi said stable, predictable, and amicable bilateral relations between India and China can have a positive impact on regional and global peace and prosperity.

"Given the current volatility in the world economy, it is also important for India and China, as two major economies, to work together to bring stability to the world economic order," Modi said in the interview published on Friday.

Modi's trip to China comes less than a fortnight after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited India.

Following Wang's wide-ranging talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, the two sides unveiled a series of measures for a "stable, cooperative and forward-looking" relationship between the two sides.

The measures included joint maintenance of peace along the contested frontier, reopening border trade and resuming direct flight services at the earliest.

In the last few months, both sides have initiated a series of measures to reset their ties that came under severe strain following the deadly clashes between Indian and Chinese troops in Galwan Valley in June 2020.

The prime minister last visited China in June, 2018 to attend the SCO summit. Chinese President Xi Jinping visited India in October 2019 for the second "informal summit".

The eastern Ladakh face-off effectively ended following completion of the disengagement process from the last two friction points of Demchok and Depsang under an agreement finalised on October 21 last year.