With Prime Minister Narendra Modi poised to travel to the Chinese city of Tianjin for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, eminent diplomats, military leaders, and scholars from India and China gathered in New Delhi to explore opportunities and challenges as the two Asian giants try to reset their multifarious relations.

In his keynote, Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong emphasized the growing momentum of bilateral cooperation and initiatives to normalize India-China relations, including high-level exchanges, resumed pilgrimages, rising trade, and renewed ministerial visits. He portrayed China–India relations as central not only to the prosperity of their peoples but also to the stability of Asia and the broader Global South. Unity and cooperation, he said, were the only viable choices in an age of uncertainty.

Looking ahead to the Tianjin Summit on August 31-September 1, 2025, Ambassador Xu outlined four guiding principles: strengthening strategic trust, aligning development strategies, deepening people-to-people engagement, and upholding international justice by resisting protectionism and safeguarding WTO norms. Casting the SCO as a major multilateral platform, he described the gathering in Tianjin as a “South Moment” in global governance and concluded with Mahatma Gandhi’s call for unity, urging a “Dragon-Elephant Tango” as the path to a fairer, more balanced world order.

The conference was organised by think tanks, Chintan Research Foundation and Centre for Global India Insights.

“China-India friendship benefits Asia. China and India are the “double engines” of economic growth in Asia,” the Chinese ambassador said at a conference titled, “SCO Summit & Resetting India–China Relations,” in New Delhi on August 22. “Today, as long as China and India live in harmony and achieve mutual success, we can continue the “Asian miracle” in the turbulent international situation and serve as the “ballast stone” in safeguarding Asia’s security and stability,” said the envoy.

Support for India Against US Tariffs  

In a show of solidarity with India against the backdrop of the US’ unilateralism, the envoy said that Beijing “firmly opposes” Washington’s steep tariffs on Delhi and called for greater co-operation between India and China. Comparing the US to a “bully”, the envoy said that it had long benefitted from free trade but was now using tariffs as a “bargaining chip” to demand “exorbitant prices” from other nations. “US has imposed tariffs of up to 50% on India and even threatened for more. China firmly opposes it. Silence only emboldens the bully,” Mr Xu said.

The Chinese envoy’s remarks prompted a range of reflections from Indian participants, who acknowledged the opportunities of engagement while underscoring the need for caution and pragmatism.

“As Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepares to visit Tianjin for the SCO Summit later this month, the spotlight is firmly on the future of the India-China relationship, which is one of the most consequential bilateral dynamics in the region and indeed the world,” said Mr Shishir Priyadarshi, President, CRF.

“The need for positive and harmonious relations between India and China is now more urgent than ever. In a polarising and fragmenting world order, the two rising Asian powers need to find a modus vivendi and adapt the art of peaceful coexistence to emerging realities,” said Manish Chand, CEO, Centre for Global India Insights.

Promoting Multipolarity 

Ambassador Venkatesh Varma, Member, National Security Advisory Board and a former envoy to Russia, recalled that when India joined the SCO in 2017 the grouping had already proven itself as an instrument of stability across Eurasia.

For India, he said, multipolarity must be cooperative rather than confrontational: “Multipolarity should not be engineered by force but emerge through discussion and negotiation — certainly not through antagonism with the West.” He also pointed to the civilizational ties binding India and China, reminding the audience that “over the long sweep of history, India and China have been bound together more than is readily admitted.”

General M.M. Naravane, the former Chief of Army Staff, carried this civilizational perspective into the security domain. He noted that as late as the 18th century, India and China together accounted for nearly a third of world trade. At the same time, he acknowledged the rupture of 1962 and the more recent tensions since 2020, warning that large-scale deployments along the Line of Actual Control were unsustainable. Stability on the boundary, he argued, was essential to restoring trust, and the 2005 Agreement on Political Parameters provided a useful framework for negotiations. With goodwill and constructive diplomacy, he argued that the two most populous nations could find common ground.

Amb. (Retd.) Neelam Sabharwal, a former diplomat and veteran China expert, provided a longer view of diplomatic resets, from the Deng Xiaoping–Rajiv Gandhi understanding of 1988 to the near-partnership phase of 2003–2005. She stressed that India attaches the highest importance to the SCO’s objectives of combating terrorism in all its forms, including cross-border terrorism, and insisted that connectivity projects must respect sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“It will be useful to return to the Peace and Tranquillity and CBM Agreements and past understandings and improve upon them. De-escalation should move forward. Clarifying the LAC is a useful step in this effort,” she said. “Both sides must endeavour to build a better understanding of each other’s regional initiatives, international ambitions and aspirations which will help in reducing mistrust of each other’s actions as being directed against the other. Perhaps crucial in this will be some effort to accommodate the other side’s concerns arising from each side’s relationships with its key partners.”

The discussion extended beyond the strategic and security realm to people-to-people and cultural contacts.

Manish Chand, CEO CGII, pointed out that the debates on India–China relations tend to revolve around borders, trade, and geopolitics while neglecting people-to-people and cultural ties. He welcomed the revival of the high-level mechanism on people-to-people and cultural contacts and called for greater exchanges among media, think tanks, and artistic communities. To reframe public perceptions, he proposed replacing the “three Cs of crisis, conflict, and competition” with “culture, creativity, and commerce.” Quoting a Chinese poem, he remarked: “If you have friends who know your heart, distance cannot keep you apart.”

He also underlined the need to change the narrative of India–China relations from adversaries to partners in shaping an Asian Century.

Looking ahead, Mr. Priyadarshi encapsulated the “ABCD of future of India-China relations.” A – Acceptability; B – Building blocks in every small step in the convergence of the bilateral ties; C – Confidence Building Measures, which eventually build Trust and; D – Dialogue – continuous dialogue is necessary for improving the relations between India and China.”