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After a gap of more than seven years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to China on August 31 to attend the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation amid signs of a thaw in the bilateral ties following a spell of fractious relationship over the eastern Ladakh border row.
PTI reported that the ministry of external affairs announced that Modi will visit the Chinese city of Tianjin from August 31 to September 1, after concluding his two-day trip to Japan.
Modi’s trip to China comes against the backdrop of a downturn in India-US ties after US President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to a whopping 50 percent, including 25 percent additional duties for New Delhi’s purchase of Russian crude oil.
The formal announcement of Modi’s visit to China was made three days after New Delhi and Beijing unveiled a series of measures for a “stable, cooperative and forward-looking” relationship that included jointly maintaining peace along the contested frontier, reopening border trade and resuming direct flight services at the earliest.
