UPDATE - Xi stresses ‘strategic, long-term’ ties with India as Modi vows cooperation with China

By Berk Kutay Gokmen

UPDATES WITH STATEMENTS FROM CHINA, INDIA; REVISES HEADLINE, LEDE, DECK; ADDS SECOND DECK

ISTANBUL (AA) - Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday stressed “strategic” and “long-term” ties with India, while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed cooperation with China.

Xi and Modi met in China’s northern city of Tianjin ahead of the 25th Heads of State Council meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

Emphasizing that this year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and India, Xi said that the two sides should “strengthen strategic communication and deepen mutual trust,” according to a statement from Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Xi urged the two sided to handle China-India relations from a “strategic and long-term perspective, further elevate them through the Tianjin summit, and promote the sustained, healthy, and stable development of bilateral relations.”

Noting that Beijing and New Delhi should expand their bilateral exchanges and cooperation to achieve “mutual benefit” and “win-win results,” Xi urged both sides to uphold “harmonious coexistence.”

For his part, Modi vowed for further “cooperation” with China, noting that it is in the interests of people of the two countries.

“This will also pave the way for the welfare of all humanity. We are committed to advancing our relations based on mutual trust, respect, and sensitivity,” Modi told Xi.

According to a statement from India’s External Affairs Ministry, the two leaders reaffirmed that the two nations are “partners and not rivals,” and “noted with satisfaction the successful disengagement last year and the maintenance of peace and tranquility along the border areas since then.”

Both leaders “expressed commitment to a fair, reasonable, and mutually acceptable resolution of the boundary question proceeding from the political perspective of their overall bilateral relations and the long-term interests of the two peoples.”

New Delhi and Beijing have taken steps to normalize ties after tensions escalated in 2020 when deadly clashes along the disputed border in Jammu and Kashmir resulted in the deaths of 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers.

Modi arrived in China on Saturday, his first time in seven years.

The two-day SCO summit from Sunday to Monday convenes amid escalating geopolitical tensions, including Israel's war in the Gaza Strip, the Ukraine crisis and international tariff disputes.

Xi and Modi met last in October on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan.

Founded in 2001, the SCO is a political and security alliance comprising 10 members: China, Russia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus.

In 2023, India’s exports to China amounted to $18.1 billion while its imports from China totaled $125 billion.