Thaw in India-China ties? PM Modi, Xi Jinping interact, shake hands on the sidelines of SCO Summit in Kyrgyzstan
Thaw in India China Ties: Modi-Xi SCO Handshake
Theindiapostdaily.com – A brief handshake between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the 26th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, has reignited speculation about a thaw in India China ties. The two leaders met briefly before delegates gathered for a group photograph, and the image — amplified within hours across social platforms — signalled that the frozen diplomatic posture that defined the bilateral relationship since 2020 may be loosening, at least in public view.
A Calculated Gesture on Multilateral Ground
The exchange took place just before all summit delegates assembled for a family photograph. Russian President Vladimir Putin also stepped into the frame, briefly joining the moment before the wider group formed. For two neighbours whose relationship has been shaped by border friction and strategic suspicion since the June 2020 Galwan Valley clash, such a public display of cordiality is rare enough to command attention. Cameras trained on the Yrys Ordo Congress Hall captured the interaction, and within hours it had become the defining visual of the summit's diplomatic narrative.
The SCO, headquartered in Beijing and spanning member states across Central Asia, South Asia, and beyond, has increasingly functioned as a lower-pressure venue where the two countries can share a stage without the weight of a bilateral summit. The organisation's format permits leaders to exchange a greeting, share a meal, or appear in a photograph without committing to a formal joint statement — a diplomatic middle ground both capitals have found useful in recent years.
BRICS and the Broader Diplomatic Architecture
The Bishkek moment arrives alongside another multilateral track already in motion. Weeks earlier, Modi extended an invitation to Xi for the BRICS Summit that India will host in New Delhi later this month. Beijing responded by offering support to India's BRICS presidency, and Xi formally thanked the Indian leader for the invitation. Together, the SCO and BRICS platforms create overlapping windows in which the two presidents can meet, converse, and be photographed without the high-stakes framing of a dedicated bilateral summit.
Zhao Yunfei, a journalist with China's state broadcaster CGTN, commented on Tuesday that India and China should make fuller use of such multilateral forums to deepen engagement and advance shared interests. Framing the repeated leader-to-leader contact as structurally beneficial, he offered the following assessment:
"I think it has created multiple occasions for the two presidents to get a chance to meet. This would be really good for the relationship between China and India because we are neighbouring countries. China has always attached importance to its neighbours because we are neighbours, and then we have to settle all the differences as well as pursue the common ground altogether to pursue the common wealth of the people in the region."
Whether multilateral proximity translates into substantive bilateral progress remains an open question. The SCO and BRICS summits provide adjacency, but they do not, by themselves, resolve the territorial disputes that continue to define the India-China border.
Boundary Talks and the Doval Visit
Days before the Bishkek summit, India's National Security Advisor and Special Representative for the India-China Boundary Question, Ajit Doval, travelled to Beijing on 24 and 25 August. There he sat down with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi for the Special Representatives' talks — a mechanism designed to manage the boundary question through structured dialogue rather than field-level confrontation. Doval also met Chinese Vice President Han Zheng during the visit.
In a social media statement, the Indian Embassy in Beijing noted that Doval and Han exchanged views on preserving peace and stability along the border and on deepening bilateral ties across economic, political, and multilateral dimensions. The embassy framed the talks as flowing from the broader understanding reached between the two heads of government, underscoring that the boundary mechanism operates within a wider diplomatic architecture rather than in isolation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where and when did Modi and Xi shake hands? The handshake occurred on the sidelines of the 26th SCO Summit held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, just before delegates gathered for a group photograph.
Does the handshake signal a full thaw in India China ties? It signals a willingness to maintain public cordiality and multilateral engagement, but the underlying territorial disputes along the Line of Actual Control remain unresolved. Analysts describe the current posture as cautious warming rather than a definitive reset.
What role does the BRICS Summit in New Delhi play? India's hosting of the BRICS Summit later this month provides a second near-term opportunity for leader-to-leader contact. Beijing has already expressed support for India's BRICS presidency, adding another multilateral channel through which the two governments can interact.
What happened in the Doval–Wang Yi talks? Ajit Doval met Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Vice President Han Zheng in Beijing on 24–25 August for the Special Representatives' talks on the boundary question. Both sides discussed preserving border stability and deepening ties across economic and political dimensions.