The North News
New Delhi, August 26
The Ministry of External Affairs( MEA) has confirmed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Tianjin, China, to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit on 31 August and 1 September, in what will be his second meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping this year.
External Affairs Ministry Secretary (West) Tanmaya Lal said the visit will focus on border de-escalation, restarting direct flights between India and China, and restoring the presence of resident journalists in both countries. Discussions are also expected on allowing China’s state television team to re-establish its office in India.
Ahead of the China visit, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri confirmed that Modi will travel to Japan on 29–30 August for the annual bilateral summit. He said the talks would focus heavily on cooperation within the Quad framework, particularly in health security, critical and emerging technologies, mineral supply chains and infrastructure development across the Indo-Pacific.
Defence and security ties are set to feature prominently in Tokyo. The two sides are already collaborating on co-developing the UNICON project — a unified radar mast for Indian naval platforms. Their defence ministers last met in May, reviewing operational cooperation and exploring ship maintenance partnerships.
Misri said both countries were also engaged in technology and equipment collaboration, with ongoing discussions between India’s DRDO and Japan’s ATLA.
Space exploration is emerging as another area of cooperation, with India’s ISRO and Japan’s space agency working together on the Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (LUPEX), aligned with India’s Chandrayaan-5 programme.
On the SCO summit, Lal said security of the region remained a priority for member states, with a strong focus on counterterrorism, including cross-border terrorism. The joint declaration for the summit is currently under negotiation.
