Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh likely to visit China this month

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to visit China later this month to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation or SCO's defence ministers' meeting. The meeting is happening in Qingdao, a major coastal city in eastern Shandong Province, China.

China is the host of the grouping for this year, and will be also hosting the foreign ministers' meeting and the summit in next few months. SCO is a major grouping of 10 countries—China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan, Iran, and Belarus—that focuses on issues like counter-terror, connectivity etc.

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Chinese Defence Minister Admiral Dong Jun last met in Vientiane, Laos on the sidelines of the 11th ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus). This was their first meeting since the India-China agreement in October 2024 to resume patrolling and disengage troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, resolving the standoff that began with the 2020 Galwan clash.

The expected visit of Indian Defence Minister to China will be the first ministerial visit from India to China since the October thaw in ties.

Both sides, since the meeting between PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in October 2024 on the sidelines of the Kazan BRICS summit in Russia have been working to normalise the ties. This includes resumption of the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra, cooperation on sharing of river water data, resumption of direct air services and working on people ties, which includes taking practical steps for visa facilitation and exchanges between media and think-tanks.

India has also extended its support to the Chinese presidency of the SCO, something that was restated during talks between Indian foreign secretary Vikram Misri and Chinese Vice Foreign minister Sun Weidong last week in Delhi. The Chinese foreign ministry in a statement said, "the Indian side reaffirmed its support for China's Shanghai Cooperation Organization presidency."

Several high level visits have also happened including the visit of Indian NSA Ajit Doval to China in December for the 23rd Special Representatives (SR) Meeting, and the Indian Foreign Secretary's visit to Beijing in January. It is expected that Chinese FM Wang Yi will visit India later this year for the 24th SR level talks.

Chinese President Xi Jinping had also extended his condolences to Indian leadership in the aftermath of the tragic Ahmedabadplanecrash.