Modi-Xi Tianjin meet: From Galwan clash to resetting India-China ties?

India Today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Tianjin on August 31, marking his first visit to China since the 2020 Galwan clash, which severely strained bilateral ties. The meeting is being seen as an attempt to reset relations between the two Asian giants, which have alternated between engagement and conflict. The talks come after a series of high-level interactions, including informal summits in Wuhan and Mamallapuram, though those were later overshadowed by the border standoff in Ladakh. A key question framing the upcoming dialogue is: Can Tianjin mark a reset? The engagement reflects the complex history of the Modi-Xi relationship, spanning civilizational bonding optics to military ruptures, as both nations seek a path forward.

Transcript

00:00Prime Minister Modi is all set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping during his first visit to China in seven years.

00:06The talks come at a time of global economic turmoil and Trump tariff rao.

00:10But to understand what is at stake, we must look back.

00:14From Wuhan to Mallapuram, from Galwan to Briggs, the Modi-Xi story that has swung between Bonhomi and Great Town.

00:22Can Tianjin mark a reset is the big question.

00:30Two Asian giants meet again.

00:47Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold talks in Tianjin on August 31st.

00:54This is Prime Minister Modi's first visit to China since the Galwan Clash of 2020, which pushed bilateral ties to their lowest in decades.

01:05But this is not the first time the two leaders have sought to reset relations.

01:09In 2019, Xi Jinping travelled to the historic coastal town of Mamalapuram for the second India-China Informer Summit.

01:21Images of Modi and Xi visiting ancient monuments sent strong optics of civilizational bonding.

01:27Just a year earlier, the two leaders had held their first Informer Summit in Wuhan.

01:37The Wuhan consensus was built as a reset in ties, stressing that differences must not turn into disputes amid Doklam standoff tensions.

01:49Modi's first major visit to China came in 2015.

01:52The chemistry was on display.

01:55Modi became the first world leader to be received by Xi in his hometown, Xi'an.

02:03Then came the Galwan Clash in 2020, breaking the fragile trust.

02:09For two years, Modi and Xi had no substantive engagement.

02:13A brief handshake at the G20 summit in Bali in 2022 marked Prime Minister Modi's first public contact with Xi Jinping since Galwan.

02:25A year later, in Johannesburg, another brief conversation on the sidelines of BRICS signaled the need for continued dialogue.

02:35Their last meeting came in October 2024 at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia.

02:40That need helped pushed forward disengagement at Friction Point in Ladakh.

02:51From Mamala Purim's optics to Galwan's rupture, the Modi-Xi story swings between smiles and standoffs.

02:59All eyes now on Tianjin.

03:01Can this reset really hold?

03:04Bureau Report, India Today.

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