India and China should approach their relations from a “strategic” and “long-term perspective”, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their talks here on Sunday.

The talks between the two leaders were held on the margins of the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) being held in Tianjin from Sunday (August 31, 2025) to Monday (September 1, 2025).

PM Modi in China LIVE

“Both sides need to approach and handle our relationship from strategic heights and long-term perspective so as to realise the sustained, sound and steady development of our bilateral ties,” he said.

In an apparent dig at U.S. President Donald Trump’s unilateral policies, Mr. Xi said both countries should uphold multilateralism.

India and China should also work for a multipolar world and more democracy in international relations, Mr. Xi said.

“We must also step up our historic responsibility to uphold multilateralism, work together to bring about a multipolar world and more democracy in international relations and to make our due contributions to peace and prosperity in Asia and around the world,” he said.

This was their first meeting in about ten months and assumed significance in view of a sudden downturn in India-U.S. ties triggered by Washington’s policies on trade and tariffs.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin on Sunday (August 31, 2025), Chinese and Russian state media reported, for a regional security summit that China hopes can counter Western influence in global affairs.

For the rare four-day visit to Russia’s neighbour and largest trading partner, Mr. Putin arrived to a red carpet welcome, received on the tarmac by top-ranking city officials, a livestream of the event by Russia’s TASS showed.

Ties between China and Russia are at their “best in history”, having become the “most stable, mature and strategically significant among major countries”, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said in its report of the arrival.

PM Modi in China LIVE

President Xi Jinping will host about 20 world leaders in Tianjin, also including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at the two-day summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the largest gathering since the group was established in 2001 among six Eurasian nations.

The security-focused bloc has expanded to 10 permanent members and 16 dialogue and observer countries in recent years. Its remit has enlarged from security and counter-terrorism to economic and military cooperation.

Mr. Xi is expected to use the summit to showcase what a post-American-led international order would look like, while providing a high-profile diplomatic boost for Russia, hit by sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine.

A day before his visit, Mr. Putin blasted Western sanctions in a written interview with China’s official Xinhua news agency, saying Moscow and Beijing jointly opposed “discriminatory” sanctions in global trade.

Russia’s economy is on the brink of recession, weighed by trade curbs and the cost of the war.

Leaders from Central Asia, the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia will attend the summit in what China aims to portray as a powerful show of unity among the “Global South”, referring to developing and lower-income countries, mostly in the southern hemisphere.

It is important to have regional solidarity amid turbulence in international landscape, China said on Friday (August 22, 2025) as it prepared to host heads of states and international organisations for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin on August 31 and September 1.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will chair the summit, which is expected to be attended by a host of world leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Briefing reporters about the summit, China’s Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Bin said it will follow new visions to overcome “cultural wars and cold war mentality”, while looking into new measures to advance development, maintain security, and promote prosperity.

The meeting, hosting more than 20 world leaders from countries including Belarus, Armenia, Malaysia, Nepal, Türkiye, and Egypt, comes against the backdrop of uncertainties in global trade, triggered by the tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

“In today’s world, outdated mindsets of hegemonism and power politics still have influence, with certain countries attempting to prioritise their own interests above others, seriously threatening world peace and stability,” Mr. Liu said without naming any specific country while emphasising on the need to strengthen regional cooperation.

The SCO aims at stability to foster lasting peace, harmony, and friendship while addressing uncertainties in international environment, Mr. Liu said, adding that the summit will focus on practising multilateralism and safeguarding regional stability.

(The writer is in Beijing at an invitation from the China Public Diplomacy Association)