China's Xi to welcome PM Modi, Putin in powerful show of global south solidarity

Modi will begin a four-day visit to Japan and China from Aug 29 to Sept 1

- OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Chinese President Xi Jinping is all set to roll out the red carpet for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and several leaders from Central Asia, the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit that begins in the Chinese city of Tianjin next week.

India on Tuesday said it expects the SCO to strongly condemn cross-border terrorism at its annual summit, comments that came ahead of PM Modi's visit to China. Modi will begin a four-day visit to Japan and China from August 29 to September 1.

In the first leg of his trip, he will travel to Tokyo to hold the annual India-Japan summit with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. The two prime ministers will also meet outside Tokyo as well. After concluding his trip to Japan, Modi will visit Tianjin to participate in the SCO summit on August 31 and September 1. The summit will feature Modi's first visit to China in more than seven years as the two neighbours work on further defusing tensions roiled by deadly border clashes in 2020.

PM Modi last shared the same stage with Xi and Putin at last year's BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, even as Western leaders turned their backs on the Russian leader amid the war in Ukraine.