SCO Summit 2025: Modi welcomed by Indian diaspora in China, crucial talks ahead with Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin

According to a New York Times report, US President Donald Trump “no longer has plans” to visit India later this year for the Quad Summit. The publication outlined the way in which ties between the POTUS and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had unravelled over the past few months. The revelation came even as Modi reached China for the SCO Summit — where he is slated to hold meetings with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. Top Trump aide Peter Navarro has repeatedly accused India of ‘funding Russia’s war in Ukraine’ as well as cosying up to Moscow and Beijing over the past few weeks.

In an interview with Japan’s The Yomiuri Shimbun, Modi said stable, predictable, and amicable bilateral relations between India and China can have a positive impact on regional and global peace and prosperity.

“Given the current volatility in the world economy, it is also important for India and China, as two major economies, to work together to bring stability to the world economic order,” Modi said in the interview published on Friday.

Modi’s trip to China comes less than a fortnight after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited India.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has cancelled his upcoming trip to China amid domestic upheaval. While the country is not a member state, he had been slated to attend the SCO summit following an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit China for four days — attending the SCO Summit before joining several events in the other country. The Kremlin said on Friday that he would hold talks with President Xi Jinping in China next week, attend a security summit, and be the “main guest” of Xi’s at a military parade on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

The Prime Minister is also expected to hold bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a number of other leaders on the sidelines of the SCO summit. The Russian delegation will include several high-ranking officials, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina, Kremlin aide Ushakov, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller, and the heads of Russia’s largest banks and companies.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday on the margins of the Summit. The upcoming interaction has assumed greater significance in the face of Washington’s ongoing tariff tussle that has impacted almost all leading economies across the world.

A humanoid robot named Xiao He has been positioned to provide multilingual support to journalists at the Summit.

“I’m Xiao He, a cutting-edge humanoid AI assistant designed for the 2025 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Tianjin. As a highly specialised service robot, I provide multilingual support, real-time information processing and protocol-compliant interaction capabilities, My systems integrate advanced emotional recognition algorithms, adaptive learning modules and comprehensive knowledge databases to facilitate seamless communication between international delegates, media personnel and summit organisers. My operational parameters emphasise cultural neutrality, factual precision and continuous performance optimisation throughout the summit duration,” the robot told ANI.

“Today we are very happy to come here to see Modi ji…I am very excited, I almost cried. I love Modi, I love India,” a Chinese woman married to an Indian told ANI after meeting the PM.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi watched several performances based on Indian classical music and dance as he arrived at a hotel in Tianjin. The performers were Chinese nationals who had been learning Indian classical music and dance for several years.

“It was so exciting. I think we did our best. I think the PM liked our classical music. It was an honour. He is such a nice person, I had never expected,” one of the classical music performers told ANI.

“He said, you did very well. We love Indian culture and art. So, we feel so proud to perform for the Prime Minister,” added a Bharatnatyam dancer who performed to welcome PM Modi.

Chinese media outlets including the CCP-run Global Times have shared footage of Prime Minister Narendra Modi arriving in Tianjin and being welcomed by officials.

“Landed in Tianjin, China. Looking forward to deliberations at the SCO Summit and meeting various world leaders,” Modi wrote on X.

The PM was received on the tarmac by several officials and welcomed with flowers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, will also share the stage with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit. This marks the first time since Operation Sindoor in May 2025 when India struck terror camps deep inside Pakistani that the two leaders will be in the same room.

Read More: Modi-Sharif face to face at SCO Summit tomorrow

A scheduled meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday has assumed greater significance in the face of Washington’s tariff tussle that has impacted almost all leading economies across the world. Modi and Xi are expected to take stock of India-China economic ties and deliberate on steps to further normalise relations that came under severe strain following the eastern Ladakh border row.

Modi is also expected to hold bilateral talks Russian President Vladimir Putin and a number of other leaders on the margins of the summit.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reached China ahead of the SCO Summit.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday embarked for China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit after concluding his visit to Japan.

The Summit is crucial for India, as it comes after the US’s 50 per cent tariffs took effect. Of these, a 25 per cent tariff was imposed on New Delhi for buying Russian crude oil.