US President Donald Trump recently increased tariffs on Indian goods to 50 per cent, in what is seen as a sign of his frustration over his failure to stop the Russia-Ukraine war.
File Photo: ANI
Amid the tariff tensions between India and the United States, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to China, scheduled from August 31 to September 1, is expected to bring a new momentum in the bilateral ties between the two nations.
This will be Mr Modi’s first visit to China since the Galwan clash in 2020, which severely strained the relations between the two countries. Coming as it does in the wake of trade tensions with the United States over India’s oil purchases from Russia, the prime minister’s visit to Japan, along with China, assumes a unique global significance.
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US President Donald Trump recently increased tariffs on Indian goods to 50 per cent, in what is seen as a sign of his frustration over his failure to stop the Russia-Ukraine war.
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In a special press briefing to the media ahead of the prime minister’s visits to Japan and China, Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Tanmay Lal, on Tuesday said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Tianjin, China, for the 25th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Council, the SCO, on August 31 and September 1, at the invitation of President Xi Jinping of China.”
Mr Modi is expected to hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the SCO Summit, the official said.
India has been a member of the SCO since 2017, while earlier it was an observer since 2005. Besides Inida, the SCO comprises 10 member nations, including India, Belarus, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Sharing the programme details of the upcoming SCO Summit in Tianjin, Lal said it includes a welcome banquet dinner in the evening of August 31, with the main summit to be held on September 1.
“And in addition to this, the Prime Minister is expected to hold some bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the SCO Summit,” Lal told the media.
Highlighting the primary goals of the SCO, namely countering three evils of terrorism, separatism and extremism, Lal underlined that there is a broader range of sectors of cooperation among the SCO members.
Meanwhile, briefing mediapersons on the prime minister’s visit to Japan, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is embarking on an official visit to Japan on the evening of August 28. He will be in Japan from August 29-30 to hold the 15th India-Japan Annual Summit with the Prime Minister of Japan, Shigeru Ishiba. This is a significant visit for several reasons. It’s Prime Minister Modi’s first annual summit with Prime Minister Ishiba.”
According to the MEA, this will be Prime Minister Modi’s eighth visit to Japan and the first standalone summit with Ishiba.
“The annual summit between India and Japan represents the highest-level dialogue mechanism that exists between the two countries, and it drives the agenda of the India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership,” Misri said.
PM Modi has previously met Ishiba on the sidelines of the ASEAN and G7 Summits.
“India and Japan are the two countries that share values, trust, and strategic outlook on several issues. They are the two of Asia’s leading democracies and among the top five world economies. Our bilateral relations have expanded steadily in scope and ambition over the last decade and today comprise trade and investment, defence and security, technology and innovation, and people-to-people exchanges, as well as discuss issues of regional and global importance,” Misri said.
Earlier on August 19, after his meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in New Delhi, PM Modi welcomed the steady and positive progress in bilateral ties between India and China since his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazan last year and emphasised that stable, predictable, and constructive ties between India and China will significantly contribute to regional and global peace and prosperity.
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