Beijing, Aug. 31: Mutual trust and respect must guide India-China relations, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Chinese President Xi Jinping as the two leaders met on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in China's port city of Tianjin on Sunday.

The closely watched bilateral began with a firm handshake, signalling the next step in rapprochement between the two long-time rivals while also sending a message to US President Donald Trump, whose tariff offensive has soured Washington’s ties with both New Delhi and Beijing.

During the hour-long meeting, PM Modi underlined recent progress in bilateral ties, from an agreement between special representatives on the border standoff, to the resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and the restoration of direct flights between the two countries.

"The interests of 2.8 billion people of both countries are linked to our cooperation. This will also pave the way for the welfare of the entire humanity," the Prime Minister said.

"We are committed to taking our relations forward on the basis of mutual trust, respect and sensitivity," he added.

The Prime Minister noted that India and China both pursue strategic autonomy, and their relations should not be seen through a third country lens, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a readout.

The two leaders also deemed it necessary to expand common ground on bilateral, regional, and global issues and challenges, like terrorism and fair trade in multilateral platforms, it said.

Xi, on his part, welcomed PM Modi and called New Delhi a "vital friend" of Beijing. He stated that the two nations must handle their relationship "from a strategic and long-term perspective".

"We must not let the border issue define the overall China-India relationship," Xi said, as quoted by state-run Xinhua.

Ties between the two Asian giants could be "promising, stable and far-reaching" if both sides focused on viewing each other as partners instead of rivals, he added.

The Chinese President also told PM Modi that the world is currently going through once-in-a-century transformations.

"The international situation is both fluid and chaotic. China and India are two ancient civilisations in the east, we are the world's two most populous countries, and we are also the oldest members of the Global South," he said.

"It is vital to be friends, a good neighbour, and the Dragon and the Elephant to come together," he added.

Seven years have passed since PM Modi last set foot in China. His last trip, to Wuhan in 2018, followed the tense Doklam standoff. This time, the focus is on economic and strategic alignment as the two Asian powers navigate the turbulence caused by Trump's tariff barrage.

In recent days, China has unequivocally condemned the punishing 50 per cent tariffs on Indian exports, saying it "firmly stands with India" and denounced the US as a "bully".

The US and China have an uneasy tariff truce in place after Trump delayed the reinstatement of sky-high tariffs on Beijing by another 90 days amid ongoing negotiations.

Beijing was further piqued when, earlier this week, Trump threatened 200 per cent tariffs if it curbed exports of rare-earth magnets to the US.

PM Modi is also scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Tianjin on Monday, the first huddle between the two leaders since the US doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50 per cent over New Delhi's refusal to stop buying Russian oil.

Even before Washington’s punitive tariffs, India had been cautiously warming to China as a source of investment and technology, while seeking to expand trade.

Ties between the two neighbours sank to their lowest point after the deadly Galwan clashes in 2020, following years of mistrust since the Doklam standoff. Relations began to thaw only last October, when PM and Xi met at the Brics summit in Russia after a long freeze that saw them avoid each other at multilateral forums. That meeting came after the two sides agreed to disengage at the remaining friction points along the Line of Actual Control.

Now, with US-India ties plummeting, New Delhi has a fresh incentive to ease tensions with Beijing. Trump’s trade war, analysts say, has upended decades of American diplomacy that cast India as a counterweight to China.-Agencies