TIANJIN — Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met on Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025, ahead of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit.
The two leaders agreed that China and India are partners, not rivals, and that their relationship should be viewed from a strategic and long-term perspective.
Xi said the two countries are each other’s development opportunities rather than threats and that specific matters would fall into place with steady progress. He emphasized that as important members of the Global South, they share a responsibility to improve the well-being of their peoples and promote the rejuvenation of developing countries.
The Chinese leader called for a “cooperative pas de deux of the dragon and the elephant.”
For his part, Modi affirmed that India is ready to develop bilateral ties from a long-term perspective. He noted that since his meeting with Xi last year, the bilateral relationship has been on a positive track, with peace and stability maintained in the border regions.
Modi said the consensus between the two countries far outweighs their disagreements and that their bilateral relationship is not subject to the influence of any third party.
The Indian prime minister said that cooperation between the two nations will make the 21st century a genuine “Asian century.”
The SCO summit is the highest-level gathering of the organization’s leaders, formally called the meeting of the Council of Heads of State. It brings together presidents and prime ministers from the member states to deliberate on cooperative strategies, sign documents, and set the direction for the organization’s future work. The member states include China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, and Belarus as of 2024. / XINHUA