Strong ties with China are "crucial" and will have a "positive impact on regional peace and prosperity" and bring stability to the global economy Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Friday afternoon in Japan.
Mr Modi is on a two-day visit to Japan to strengthen bilateral ties between Delhi and Tokyo, and will visit four factories, including one making a prototype of the E10 Shinkansen bullet train India hopes to purchase, as well as sign MoUs related to defense, trade, technology, and business.
He then travels to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional bloc that also includes Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus.
"At the invitation of (Chinese) President Xi Jinping, I will travel to Tianjin from here to take part in the SCO summit. Since my meeting with President Xi in Kazan (in Russia, during an earlier SCO meet) last year, steady and positive progress has been made in our bilateral ties," he told Japanese media.
"Stable, predictable, and amicable bilateral relations between India and China, the two largest nations on Earth, can have a positive impact on regional and global peace and prosperity," he said, echoing remarks after meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Delhi this month.
"This is also crucial for a multi-polar Asia and world."
The summit - the 25th time heads of member-states will meet - comes as India navigates global economic and geopolitical turbulence arising from Russia's war on Ukraine, Israel's war on Gaza, and the United States' 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods exported to that country.
The US' move, in particular, has led to a thaw in decades-long India-China military tension, as the two Asian giants recalibrate ties to offset potential economic losses arising from the taxes.
Indian government sources told NDTV the tariffs are likely to affect $48 billion in exports.
READ | Expand Export Markets, Boost Local Demand: India's Plan For Trump Tariffs
Evidence of that thaw emerged in March as the US began taxing Chinese goods, and Wang Yi urged Delhi and Beijing to "take the lead in opposing hegemonism and power politics".
Mr Wang said then that "making the dragon and elephant dance is the only right choice".
That metaphor was later picked up China's Xi Jinping too, a sign Beijing is serious about exploring more mutually beneficial ties with India. In fact, there are whispers Mr Xi personally reached out.
READ | "Secret" Xi Jinping Letter Was Key To Improved India-China Ties: Report
In Japan today, the PM acknowledged those sentiments, and said, "Given volatility in the world economy, it is important for India and China to work together to bring stability to the world economic order. India is ready to advance bilateral relations from a strategic and long-term perspective on the basis of mutual interest..."
These mutual interest areas will likely include the EV, or Electric Vehicle, industry, which is already heavily reliant on rare earth minerals that are a key part of the manufacturing.
PM Modi met China Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Delhi.
Wang Yi, during his Delhi visit, has already assured India of cooperation in this regard.
Specific goods and sectors aside, the massive Indian and Chinese markets will boost the other's economy, particularly as each tries to diversify export markets to offset the Trump tariff impact.
Further evidence of that is the two countries agreeing to step up trade and resume direct flights, both measures seen as major diplomatic breakthroughs. The decision to disengage in Ladakh - where military tensions skyrocketed after the 2020 Galwan clashes - was another positive step.
Wang Yi's visit to Delhi earlier this month, his first in three years, added to what seems to be rapidly (given the India-China context) normalising relations between the two countries.
Mr Modi is widely expected to meet Mr Xi when in China next week.
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