Overview

• China’s foreign ministry officially welcomed Modi’s planned trip to Tianjin from August 31 to September 1 for the SCO summit, marking his first China visit since the 2020 Galwan clash.
• Indian officials say Modi is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit, representing their second formal encounter in under a year.
• The prime minister will stop in Tokyo on August 30 for the annual India-Japan summit before proceeding to China.
• The trip builds on a series of 2025 SCO ministerial meetings and last October’s LAC disengagement deal that eased border tensions.
• New Delhi views the engagement as a way to assert strategic autonomy while managing US tariffs on Indian goods and scrutiny of BRICS oil imports.