China-India relations: Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi continue to keep each other at arm’s length

The pair did not hold face-to-face talks at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit despite both sides pulling back troops along a disputed border

The deadly clash in the Galwan Valley two years ago continues to weigh on relations and Beijing is concerned by Delhi’s growing closeness to the US

Reading Time:2 minutes

Narendra Modi, pictured in Samarkand last week, has not met Xi in person since 2020. Photo: AP

Published: 11:00pm, 18 Sep 2022

Chinese President Xi Jinping met at least 12 state leaders for one-on-one talks during a three-day diplomatic blitz last week, his first trip outside China since the early days of the pandemic.

But they did not include Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The pair posed for group photos at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit held in the Uzbek city of Samarkand and attended multilateral meetings, but there was no publicly reported two-way meeting.

That was despite a recent breakthrough where the Chinese and Indian militaries began to pull back from Jianan Pass in the west Himalayas, where the two sides have been engaged in a prolonged stand-off.

The border dispute has been a major drag on the relationship since 2020, when a deadly skirmish in the Galwan Valley left at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers dead.

Although India is sticking to its foreign policy of non-alignment, Beijing has grown concerned about India’s involvement in Washington-led regional groupings.

It is a member of the Quad, along with the US, Japan and Australia, as well a Middle East grouping – the I2U2 with Israel and the United Arab Emirates – which aims to boost collaboration on technology and crucial resources such as water, food and energy.

The SCO was the first occasion Xi had seen Modi in person since the deadly border skirmishes of 2020. They did not greet each other after posing for a group photo.