China, India declare new era of cooperation
China’s President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have declared a new era of cooperation, vowing to be “partners, not rivals” after years of tense relations marked by a deadly border standoff.
The two leaders met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, marking Modi’s first visit to China in seven years. Both leaders signalled that trust was deepening between Asia’s two most populous nations.
President Xi told Prime Minister Modi that China and India must approach their relationship with “a strategic height and long-term perspective,” adding that friendship was “the right choice for both sides.” Modi echoed the sentiment, saying there was now “an atmosphere of peace and stability.”
The meeting comes at a sensitive time, as India’s ties with the United States face strain. Washington has imposed steep tariffs on Indian goods in retaliation for Delhi’s continued purchase of Russian oil, while Moscow remains under Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine. Analysts say the shifting dynamics are pushing New Delhi closer to Beijing.
As a symbolic gesture, Modi announced that commercial flights between India and China, suspended since 2020 following deadly Himalayan border clashes, would soon resume, although he stopped short of giving a timeline.
This year’s SCO gathering, the largest since its founding in 2001, brings together ten member states, including Russia, Pakistan and Iran, alongside sixteen dialogue partners and observers. Russian President Vladimir Putin, a close ally of Beijing, also received a red-carpet welcome in Tianjin.
Beyond the geopolitics, the summit has transformed Tianjin into a stage for global diplomacy. Banners and billboards line the streets, crowds have gathered nightly along the riverside to watch light shows on skyscrapers, and traffic restrictions have brought parts of the port city to a halt. Police have advised the city’s thirteen million residents to limit unnecessary movement.
For Xi and Modi, however, the symbolism goes far beyond spectacle. Their joint call for partnership signals a calculated effort to ease decades of mistrust and to present a united front as both nations navigate turbulent relations with the West.
