Transcript of Special briefing by MEA on Prime Minister's visit to Japan and China (August 26, 2025)
India - Ministry of External Affairs
August 26, 2025
Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Good afternoon, friends. I welcome you to this special press briefing by Foreign Secretary Shri Vikram Misri and Secretary (West) Shri Tanmaya Lal on Prime Minister's upcoming visit to Japan for the Annual Summit and to China for the SCO Summit. With that, I invite Foreign Secretary Sir to make his opening remarks.
But before that, I would like to remind the audience that this particular Press Briefing is on Japan and to China for SCO Summit. So please focus your questions on these two particular aspects of the visit only. Thank you. Sir, the floor is yours.
Shri Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary: Thank you, Randhir. Good afternoon. Thank you all for joining today.
As you are aware, the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is embarking on an official visit to Japan on the evening of 28th August. He will be in Japan on the 29th and the 30th of August for holding the 15th India-Japan Annual Summit with the Prime Minister of Japan, His Excellency Shigeru Ishiba.
This is a significant visit for several reasons. It's Prime Minister Modi's first Annual Summit with Prime Minister Ishiba. It is also his first standalone visit to Japan in nearly seven years. He last visited for the Annual Summit in 2018. Since then, of course, he has visited Japan, but that has been for multilateral engagements and other ceremonial events. So, this will be a visit that will be fully dedicated to the bilateral agenda between India and Japan. This is also Prime Minister's eighth visit to Japan since he took office in 2014, and reflects the very high priority that this particular relationship has in our foreign relations.
The Annual Summit between India and Japan, as you would be aware, represents the highest level dialogue mechanism that exists between the two countries, and it drives the agenda of the India-Japan special strategic and global partnership.
Prime Minister has met Prime Minister Ishiba of Japan on previous occasions on the sidelines of international events. They first met, I think, in Vientiane on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit, and more recently on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Kananaskis in Canada in June of this year. These discussions during these events will be taken forward during the Annual Summit in Tokyo on the 29th of August.
India and Japan are two countries that share values, trust, and strategic outlook on several issues. They are two of Asia's leading democracies and amongst the top five world economies. Our bilateral relations have expanded steadily in scope and ambition over the last decade, and today comprise trade and investment, defense and security, science and technology, infrastructure and mobility, people-to-people contact, and vibrant cultural engagement between the two sides.
So the 15th Summit will give both Prime Ministers the opportunity to do an in-depth review of these ties, take stock of progress in the last few years across multiple domains, and of course, as is usual, exchange views on regional and global issues of importance.
This will also be an opportunity to launch several new initiatives in order to build greater resilience in the relationship, and to respond to emerging opportunities and challenges. One of the features of the Annual Summit between India and Japan is an engagement between the two leaders outside the capital and on this occasion as well, the program includes a visit outside Tokyo, which is again going to be something to look forward to for the two leaders.
The program also includes interactions of the Prime Minister with several other political leaders from Japan, as also with friends of India. In Japan, the Prime Minister will also participate in a business leaders' forum with captains of Japanese and Indian industry. These interactions are aimed at deepening the very important trade, investment and technology relationship between the two countries.
We have also seen in recent years an intensification of the engagement between Indian states and Japanese prefectures, and an engagement focused on this particular aspect has also been planned for during the visit. Overall, the visit will consolidate our long-standing friendship. It will open fresh avenues of cooperation, and reaffirm our shared commitment to peace, prosperity and stability, both for the two countries as well as in our shared Indo-Pacific region and beyond.
Let me stop there and I will turn the microphone over to my colleague, Secretary (West), to brief you on Prime Minister's visit to Tianjin for the SCO Summit.
Shri Tanmaya Lal, Secretary (West): Thank you. Namaskar. I will now share some information about the upcoming SCO Summit.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will visit Tianjin, China for the 25th meeting of the Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Council, the SCO, on 31st August and 1st September 2025 at the invitation of His Excellency President Xi Jinping of China.
The SCO was established with the primary goal of countering three evils of terrorism, separatism, and extremism, which continue to remain a challenge. Today, as a regional platform, there is a broader range of sectors of cooperation among the SCO members. The SCO comprises 10 members. In addition to India, they include Belarus, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. There are a number of dialogue partners and observers also.
India has been a member of the SCO since 2017, and earlier it was an observer since 2005. During the period of its membership, India has held the chair of the SCO Council of Heads of Government in 2020 and of the SCO Council of Heads of State during 2022-2023. India engages actively with various institutional processes and mechanisms of the SCO, and participates in the ministerial meetings and other dialogue formats.
Prime Minister Shri Modi has participated in various previous SCO Summits in 2018 in Qingdao; 2019 in Bishkek; 2020 in Moscow in virtual format; 2021 in Dushanbe in virtual format; 2022 in Tashkent; 2023 in New Delhi in virtual format; and in 2024 Astana Summit External Affairs Minister had represented the Prime Minister.
The theme of the 23rd SCO Summit which was chaired by Prime Minister Modi was towards a 'SECURE' SCO and here the SECURE stands for Security, Economy and Trade, Connectivity, Unity, Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity, and Environment. So this gives an idea of the range of issues that are of priority for India in the SCO.
During India's presidency in 2023, SCO had adopted a Joint Statement on cooperation on countering radicalization leading to separatism, extremism, and terrorism. During the presidency, India had also focused on a very broad based, and diverse areas of cooperation that are of interest to SCO members. These practical areas of cooperation include, for instance, startups and innovation, traditional medicine, youth empowerment, digital inclusion and shared Buddhist heritage.
Earlier in 2020, India had hosted the Startup Forum, and established a working group on this important area. A conclave of young scientists had been organized, which has now become a regular mechanism. The first ever meeting of consortium of economic think tanks and an SCO business conclave was also hosted by India. Traditional medicine was another subject where an expert group was established upon an Indian initiative, and several events were hosted to promote traditional medicine.
India also hosted an exhibition on our shared Buddhist heritage during its 2023 SCO presidency and 10 classics of Indian regional literature were translated into Russian and Chinese languages. Also during that presidency, the city of Varanasi was designated as the first ever cultural and tourism capital of the SCO during the year 2022- 2023, and the city had hosted several socio-cultural events aimed at fostering people-to-people ties.
All these initiatives and events have been well received by SCO member states. As you may know, the secretariat of the SCO is based in Beijing; and Uzbekistan hosts the regional anti-terrorist structure RATS in Tashkent.
Security cooperation remains one of the important areas of focus for India, and India had chaired the SCO RATS council during 2021-2022. Earlier this year, in February, the Secretary General of SCO RATS, Mr. Nurlan Yermekbayev, who is a former minister of Kazakhstan, had visited India and held useful discussions.
In May this year, the ICWA had hosted a 20th SCO forum in New Delhi on the theme SECURE SCO. In recent months, India has participated at ministerial level, senior level in several ongoing processes of SCO. This includes the meetings where the Indian delegation was led by NSA, Raksha Mantri, and External Affairs Minister in their relevant SCO formats..
The program elements for the upcoming 25th SCO Summit in Tianjin include a welcome banquet dinner in the evening of 31st August, and the main Summit will be held on the next day, Monday, 1st September. And, in addition to this, Prime Minister is expected to hold some bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the SCO Summit.
Thank you. I will stop there.
Keita Ueki, Japanese News Agency Jeiji Press : Thank you, I'm Keita Ueki, Japanese News Agency Jeiji Press correspondent. Regarding the bilateral meeting, India and Japan ... India and Japan are also members of Quad. So, will Prime Minister Modiji invite Mr. Ishiba to Quad Summit, which will be held in India later this year? Thank you.
Ayushi Agarwal, ANI: Sir, this is Ayushi from ANI. During the China visit, what is the possibility of a bilateral meeting with Russian President on the sidelines? And second, during the meeting with Chinese President, would there be any discussion on US tariffs, as China has recently said that it stands with India and blamed the US referring it as a bully. So, would there be any discussion on the tariffs?
Madhuarendra, News Nation: Sir, Madhuarendra, mein News Nation se. Mera sawal SCO ko lekar hai. Jaesa ki aapne khud bataya ki atankwad ek bade agenda ke taur par SCO forum pe raha hai. Aur Pahalgam Atanki hamle aur uske baad Operation Sindoor ke thik baad SCO ki pehli bathak hai jisme Pakistan bhi member ke taur pe hai. Kya hum ummid karte hain ki atankwad ko lekar ye forum ek behtar message de payega jo Bharat ka stand hai ki talk and terror cannot go together aur atankwad ke rehne ki sthiti mein kisi bhi tarah ke sambandh nahi Pakistan se sthapit ho sakte hain. Usko lekar koi message hoga ? Chuki Operation Sindoor ke dauran Chin ne bhi Pakistan ko madad ki thi to kya is babat bhi koi bat us manch se humko lagta hai ki Bharat apne agenda mein shamil karega, aur kya ye joint declaration mein ho payega.
[Approximate Translation: Question in Hindi] Sir, Madhuarendra from News Nation. My question is regarding the SCO. As you yourself mentioned, terrorism has remained a major agenda point at the SCO forum. And this is the first meeting of the SCO right after the Pahalgam terrorist attack and the subsequent Operation Sindoor ... in which Pakistan is also a member. Can we expect that on the issue of terrorism, this forum will be able to give a stronger message that reflects India's stand—that talks and terror cannot go together, and as long as terrorism exists, no kind of relations can be established with Pakistan? Will there be any such message? Since, during Operation Sindoor, China had also supported Pakistan, can we expect that India will include this issue in its agenda at the forum, and will this find place in the joint declaration as well?
Huma Siddiqui, StratNews Global: Sir, I am Huma Siddiqui, from StratNews Global. I have a question related to the visit to Japan. You talked about defense as part of the agenda. So, in defense and security, is any important announcement expected? And in the space sector, Japan has been participating with ISRO. Is there anything on the agenda about that?
Keshav Padmanabhan, ThePrint: Thank you, sir. Keshav Padmanabhan from ThePrint. I have a question regarding the Annual Summit to Japan. In connection to the earlier question, are we looking at any sort of outcomes of co-production of defense with Japan? Is that something on the agenda?
And with regards to the SCO, if I may also ask, we know that Pakistan will be attending the Summit. India is there. We've seen that in the past, during the Defense Minister's meeting, there was a lack of consensus over terrorism, which is a core goal of the SCO. So, how do you expect, at the leaders' Summit, for any sort of declaration, or joint ... this thing ? What are sort of the red lines that India is thinking of when it comes to terrorism, separatism and extremism that it believes should be part of the document? Could you give us a sense of that? Thank you.
Shri Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary: Okay, let me address a few of the questions. I think a question from our friend back there on the Quad. You're aware that the Quad is indeed an important platform for working on and promoting peace, stability, prosperity, and development in the Indo-Pacific region.
In more recent years, its agenda has expanded to take on issues of practical cooperation, if I can call it that, and health security. It covers critical and emerging technologies. There's an initiative with regard to critical minerals that has been discussed recently. Overall, with regard to how to make supply chains more resilient, and also infrastructure development. So, these are all issues that are a priority, both for India and for Japan. Both our countries attach high value to this forum and to this partnership. And we look forward to working with all Quad partners to take our cooperation forward. I'm sure when the two prime ministers meet, the Quad will be a subject that will be discussed between the two of them.
Ayushi's question about bilateral meetings. Look, as always happens with regard to such events, there will be a number of bilateral meetings that will be organized on the sidelines. We are still working through the finalization of those meetings and will keep you updated and brief you in any case on the proceedings in those meetings. I think ahead of the meetings, it might be a bit forward of me to anticipate and say what will be discussed and will not be discussed in the meetings.
Huma, your question and I think Keshav's question is on the same lines, with regard to defense and security related cooperation between India and Japan. This has indeed emerged as an important pillar of cooperation between the two countries in recent years. There was a meeting between the defense ministers of the two countries that was held just recently in May of this year, where the two sides were able to review a whole host of issues, operational engagements between the two sides. But more importantly, defense equipment and technology collaboration, which is an important part of the overall defense and security engagement between the two sides.
I think there was some interest in specific platforms etc. And you would be aware that the two countries are already working on co-developing the Unified Complex Radio Antenna, the UNICORN project, which is a common radar mast for use by Indian Navy platforms. A memorandum of implementation for this particular project was signed in November 2024. The Indian Navy, and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force are also exploring possible cooperation in the area of ship maintenance in India. And there are discussions going on ... on a number of other issues between the designated agencies of the two sides, DRDO in India and ATLA in Japan. And, these discussions are regular and the agenda is constantly being refreshed, and they remain engaged on it.
I think there was a reference also to space. So the ISRO and the Japanese Space Agency are working together on something called LUPEX, which is the Lunar Polar Exploration Mission. And this is being pursued in tandem with India's Chandrayaan-5 mission. This is an area of some importance also because it affords an avenue for Indian space startups to actually deploy their capabilities and their capacities in this important area.
Shri Tanmaya Lal, Secretary (West): Apka Prashn Jo atankwad ke bare mein tha. So jiasa maine kaha ki SCO jab sthapit hua tha, tab uske ek main udesh mein tha ki kaise peace and security ka jo challenge hai from terrorism, separatism, extremism ... usko kaise counter kiya jaye.
[Approximate Translation: Answer in Hindi] Your question was about terrorism. As I mentioned, when the SCO was established, one of its main objectives was how to counter the challenges to peace and security arising from terrorism, separatism, and extremism.
And this challenge remains. The security of the region remains a priority for the SCO members. In the past, there have been strong condemnation of terrorism, including cross-border terrorism, in the statements that have been finalized, including the Joint Statement that I referred to, which was finalized during our presidency of the Summit, 23rd Summit.
As far as the declaration at this Summit is concerned, that is under finalization ... the text. We are working with other members and partners to see that there should be a reiteration of the strong condemnation of terrorism, including cross-border terrorism. But the text is under finalization.
Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: With that, ladies and gentlemen, we come to the close of this Press Briefing. We shall keep you updated.
New Delhi
August 26, 2025
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