Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to China later this month to attend the 25th Heads of State Council meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Tianjin, scheduled for August 31–September 1, 2025. This will be Modi’s first visit to China since the 2020 Galwan Valley clashes and his first trip to the country since 2019, marking a significant diplomatic development in India–China relations.
Ahead of his China trip, Modi will visit Japan on August 30 to hold the annual bilateral summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Meet 2025
The SCO gathering in Tianjin is expected to be the largest since the organisation’s inception, bringing together leaders from several nations and representatives of 10 international organisations.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has welcomed Modi’s participation. Spokesperson Guo Jiakun expressed optimism that the summit will strengthen “solidarity, friendship and fruitful results”. As per ANI, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun said, “We believe that with the concerted effort of all parties, the Tianjin summit will be a gathering of solidarity, friendship and fruitful results, and the SCO will enter a new stage of high-quality development featuring greater solidarity, coordination, dynamism and productiveness.”
The visit comes at a time of shifting global power equations and ongoing tensions among major nations. Bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping are under consideration on the sidelines of the event.
Founded in 2001 by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the SCO expanded in 2017 to include India and Pakistan. Iran became a member in 2023, followed by Belarus in 2024.
Modi’s last visit to China was in 2018, when he met Xi for an informal summit in Wuhan, followed by the SCO meeting in Qingdao. Xi visited India in 2019 for a second informal summit aimed at easing tensions after the 2017 Doklam standoff, but the 2020 border clashes sharply deteriorated ties, as per a report on The Hindustan Times. This upcoming trip, therefore, will be closely watched for any signs of a thaw in relations.
