Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s Summit was held in Tianjin, China on August 31 to September 1, 2025. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Summit constitutes one of significant developments in India-China relations over the past decade. The visit signaled a discernible shift in India’s foreign policy orientation as it was Prime Minister Modi’s first visit to China in last seven years and his first bilateral engagement with President Xi Jinping since the prolonged border standoff of 2020. Also, it was Prime Minister Modi’s first participation in an SCO summit in three years, underscores India’s renewed interest in engaging with Eurasian grouping.

The Summit resurrected a camaraderie relationship between Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral framework. At the bilateral level, the Modi-Xi meeting endorsed normailisation process between India and China initiated in October 2024. The Modi–Xi meeting endorsed the normalisation process initiated in October 2024, following incremental troop disengagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Both India and China, agreed to expedite the boundary resolution process through the aegis of the ‘Special Representative’. They also agreed to resume suspended exchanges, such as Visa facilitation, direct flights, economic cooperation and global trade flows. Moreover, Prime Minister Modi appeal to advance ties on the basis of ‘Mutual Trust’, while President Xi entreat the metaphor ‘Dragon and Elephant’ Coming together.

The Summit resurrected a camaraderie relationship between Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral framework. At the bilateral level, the Modi-Xi meeting endorsed normailisation process between India and China initiated in October 2024. The Modi–Xi meeting endorsed the normalisation process initiated in October 2024, following incremental troop disengagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Both India and China, agreed to expedite the boundary resolution process through the aegis of the ‘Special Representative’. They also agreed to resume suspended exchanges, such as Visa facilitation, direct flights, economic cooperation and global trade flows. Moreover, Prime Minister Modi appeal to advance ties on the basis of ‘Mutual Trust’, while President Xi entreat the metaphor ‘Dragon and Elephant’ Coming together.

The Summit declared ‘Tianjin Declaration’, which contained cross border movement of terrorists reference to Pahalgam attack in India. The declaration saw a unanimity on anxious issues, including humanitarian crisis in Gaza and condemned US-Israel strike on Iran and proposed an ‘SCO Development Bank’. India restated its opposition to sections ratifying China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and proposed a ‘Civilizational Dialogue’ between India and China.

India’s relations with US under President Donald Trump have pushed New Delhi to inch closer to Beijing, though cautiously. The other aspect is economic necessity particularly of stabilize trade and investment flow during a period of global uncertainty. However, India-China rapprochement requires an understanding of dimensions such as: structural chauffeurs of normalization, the government trust for deepening ties amid unresolved border issue and violent clashes at Galwan that halted high level political dialogue. India consistently maintained that without restoration of ‘Peace and Tranquility’ at the border, it is impossible to maintaine broader engagement. One such example is the Ladakh standoff, which is still unresolved after six years as over 100,000 troops and military assets are deployed on both sides. Therefore, a systemic suspicion persists across political, diplomatic and military domains. In this context, relatively low-cost measures, such as restoration of direct flights and Kailash Mansarovar Yatra as part of ‘Cultural Diplomacy’ have been priorities in the bilateral meeting. Such gestures create conducive political atmosphere for substantive negotiations and should not be viewed as strategic realignment.

The emergence of unipolar world order compelled China to stabilize its periphery resulting in significant agreement for border management in 1993, 1996, 2005, 2012 and 2013. The recent visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to New Delhi indicates a tentative progress in New Delhi and Beijing to engage constructively this regard. However, these development call for a careful reflection on whether current circumstances extant India with a strategic opportunity for a modus vivendi with China.

US response to Tianjin summit is noteworthy. The visuals of Prime Minister Modi with President Xi and President Putin at the Summit prompted sharp reactions in Washington and Peter Navarro, trade adviser at White House criticized Prime Minister Modi presence at SCO Summit as a betrayal of democratic solidarity. He expressed bafflement at India’s alignment with the two biggest authoritarian regimes in the world. Navarro also underscored India’s fraught history with China and advised New Delhi to side with the West. US Treasure Secretary Scott Bessent downplayed the SCO summit as ‘performative’. However, he emphasized that India’s democratic values are aligned more closely with the West than with China and Russia. Both Navarro and Bessent have criticized India for continued import of Russian oil, which have been a recurring point of friction bilateral relations between India and US.

The domestic media narrative in US framed Prime Minister Modi’s growing proximity with China and Russia as evidence of President Trump’s foreign policy failures. President Trump’s decision of imposing tariffs on India had inadvertently driven India towards China and Russia. Former National Security Adviser John Bolton regarded Prime Minister Modi’s reconciliation with China as ‘bad outcome’ traceable to President Trump’s missteps.

Finally, Prime Minister Modi’s visit to SCO summit symbolizes a significant reconfiguration in India’s foreign policy. The visit has the potential to pave the way for strategic steps towards normalization with China, through constrained by structural distrust and unresolved border tensions.

Dr. Zheer Ahmed is Assistant Professor at Center of Excellence for Geopolitics and International Studies, REVA University, Bengaluru.