Direct Flights Between India and China Set to Resume as Part of Broader Rapprochement

A passenger plane is on the tarmac of Shanghai Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, China, on August 11, 2025. (Photo by CFOTO / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP)

A nearly five-year freeze in relations between India and China is quickly thawing ahead of a landmark visit to Tianjin later this month by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Modi’s upcoming trip would mark his first visit to China in seven years and is widely expected to include a meeting with President Xi Jinping. In advance of the summit, the two countries are moving quickly to restore some semblance of normalcy in the relationship that effectively froze following a deadly clash in 2020 between their troops in the disputed Galwan Valley.

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by Eric Olander

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