INDIA: Modi To Visit China For First Time In 7 Years For SCO Summit

(MNI) London - Reuters reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit China for the first time in over seven years this autumn for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit. The summit gets underway in Tianjin on 31 August, and Modi's attendance will inevitably be viewed in the context of the increasing trade tensions between New Delhi and Washington, D.C.

• US President Donald Trump has applied a 25% tariff on Indian exports, threatened an additional 10% levy on BRICS countries (of which India is one) for "aligning themselves with anti-American policies", as well as a further penalty for India's continued (albeit decreasing) purchase of Russian oil.
• Trump's tariff agenda risks alienating a country that in recent years had swung, if not fully into the US 'camp' on international issues, then at least away from its historic non-aligned position. India's membership of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the 'Quad'), and Modi being the first foreign leader to visit the White House in Trump's second term, were seen as signs of an increasingly solid bilateral relationship.
• However, facing US opprobrium on issues including protectionism and allegedly propping up Russia's "war machine", India could shift back to its non-aligned position. Indeed, Sino-Indian relations have improved of late, with the two sides holding regular meetings to avoid flare-ups along the contested border in the Himalayas, and Modi and Xi speaking on the sidelines of the 2024 BRICS summit.