Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit China for the first time in more than seven years, according to a government source, marking a step toward improving diplomatic relations with Beijing amid growing tensions with the United States.
Modi’s visit comes as India faces its most significant strain in ties with the US in years. The crisis follows President Donald Trump’s decision to impose the highest tariffs among Asian nations on Indian imports, along with an executive order that places an additional 25 percent tariff on India in response to its continued imports of Russian oil.
Modi will travel to the Chinese city of Tianjin to attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a regional political and security bloc that includes Russia. This will be his first visit to China since June 2018.
India-China relations soured significantly after a deadly military confrontation along their contested Himalayan border in 2020. However, Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held discussions on the sidelines of a BRICS summit in Russia in October, which marked the beginning of a diplomatic thaw. The two major Asian powers are gradually easing tensions that had disrupted business and travel links.
India slams U.S. tariffs over Russian oil imports as 'unfair, unjustified'
At the same time, India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is currently in Russia on a planned visit, where he is expected to address issues related to India’s purchases of Russian oil amid US pressure to stop those transactions, according to another government source who requested anonymity.
Doval is also likely to discuss ongoing defence cooperation with Moscow, including efforts to expedite pending exports of Russia’s S-400 air defence systems to India, as well as a potential visit to India by President Vladimir Putin. His visit will be followed in the coming weeks by a trip from Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
Officials from both India and the US said that a combination of political miscalculations, missed signals, and growing resentment derailed trade negotiations between the world’s first and fifth-largest economies, whose bilateral trade exceeds $190 billion.
India braces for 50% tariffs as Trump announces additional 25% import tax
According to four separate sources citing an internal government analysis, India fears that Trump’s actions could undermine its competitiveness in roughly $64 billion worth of exports to the US, which represent 80 percent of its total shipments to the American market.
Nonetheless, with exports forming only a modest portion of India’s $4 trillion economy, the overall impact on economic growth is expected to be limited.
Source: Agency