TIANJIN, China — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Tianjin on Saturday for his first visit to China in seven years, where he is expected to meet President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.

The summit, running Sunday and Monday, will gather more than 20 leaders including Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

Modi’s trip follows a stop in Japan, where Tokyo pledged $68 billion in investment in India. His arrival highlights a cautious thaw in China-India relations, which have been tense since a deadly border clash in 2020. The two leaders met last October in Russia for the first time in five years, signaling an attempt to stabilize ties.

The SCO includes China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus, with another 16 countries participating as observers or dialogue partners.

Chinese President Xi Jinping began welcoming leaders on Saturday, including Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Egyptian Premier Moustafa Madbouly. Russian President Vladimir Putin is also expected to arrive ahead of the summit.

The bloc, often viewed as a counterbalance to NATO, has become a platform for China and Russia to strengthen their influence in Central Asia. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are among other leaders scheduled to attend.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres met Xi in Tianjin on Saturday, where they discussed multilateralism and reforms to the global financial system, according to a UN readout.

Bilateral diplomacy on sidelines

Several high-profile bilateral meetings are expected during the summit. The Kremlin said Putin will meet Erdogan on Monday to discuss the Ukraine war.

Turkey has hosted three rounds of talks between Moscow and Kyiv this year, though none have resolved the conflict.

Putin is also set to meet Iranian President Pezeshkian to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program amid renewed Western pressure.

On Thursday, Britain, France, and Germany triggered a snapback mechanism to reinstate UN sanctions on Iran over its failure to comply with the 2015 nuclear deal.

Russia’s foreign ministry warned that the move risked “irreparable consequences.”

Tehran and Moscow have expanded military, political, and economic ties in recent years, a partnership that has deepened since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. — Agencies