New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping on August 31 and Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 1 in Tianjin, during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.

The talks come at a sensitive moment, as India grapples with strained economic ties with the United States following tariff hikes by President Donald Trump.

India’s relationship with China, though still fragile, has shown signs of cautious improvement after years of confrontation. Tensions had escalated after the deadly Galwan Valley clashes in June 2020, but sustained diplomatic and military engagements have since led to withdrawals from some key friction points along the Line of Actual Control.

Despite heavy deployments, both sides have worked to lower the risk of fresh escalation. This will mark Modi’s first visit to China in more than seven years, his last being the informal Wuhan summit with Xi in 2018. The upcoming meeting is expected to test whether the managed thaw between the two Asian neighbours can move into a more stable phase.

The meeting with Putin is equally significant. With Moscow under Western sanctions over the Ukraine war, Russia is seeking to reinforce its traditional partnership with India while expanding its alignment with China. Officials have hinted at possible trilateral discussions involving India, Russia and China, which may surface in the Modi-Putin talks.

The wider SCO summit will draw leaders from across Central Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. For China, it represents a stage to assert leadership of the Global South and to extend diplomatic support to Russia. For India, the gathering provides an opportunity to reaffirm its place in multilateral forums and present itself as a balancing force in shifting global alignments.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan reaffirmed their commitment to deepen the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the official statement by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.

According to the release, PM Modi spoke yesterday with the President of the UAE over the telephone, and the two leaders reaffirmed their mutual commitment to further strengthening the bilateral Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between India and the UAE.

“They positively assessed the remarkable progress made across various sectors of bilateral cooperation and laid emphasis on further developing and deepening collaboration for the shared benefit of the peoples of both countries,” the release said.

Moreover, the UAE President also extended congratulations to PM Modi on becoming the second longest-serving Prime Minister in India’s history and wished him continued success in his service to the nation, the press release added.

Similarly, PM Modi also thanked the UAE President for his gracious wishes and the affection he expressed for the people of India.

Thailand launched air strikes on Cambodian military targets on Thursday as Cambodia fired rockets and artillery, killing a civilian, in a dramatic escalation of a long-running border row between the two neighbours.

The neighbours are locked in a bitter spat over an area known as the Emerald Triangle, where the borders of both countries and Laos meet, and which is home to several ancient temples.

The squabble has dragged on for decades, flaring into bloody military clashes more than 15 years ago and again in May, when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a firefight.

The conflict blazed up on Thursday, with Cambodia firing rockets and artillery shells into Thailand and the Thai military scrambling F-16 jets to carry out air strikes.

Six jets were deployed from Ubon Ratchathani province, hitting two “Cambodian military targets on the ground”, according to Thai military deputy spokesperson Ritcha Suksuwanon. 

The Thai prime minister’s office said a Cambodian artillery shell hit a house over the border, killing one civilian and wounding three others, including a five-year-old child.

Both sides blamed the other for starting the fighting, which erupted near two temples on the border between the Thai province of Surin and Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey.

“The Thai military violated the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Cambodia by launching an armed assault on Cambodian forces stationed to defend the nation’s sovereign territory,” defence ministry spokeswoman Maly Socheata said in a statement.

“In response, the Cambodian armed forces exercised their legitimate right to self-defence, in full accordance with international law, to repel the Thai incursion and protect Cambodia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

The Thai military blamed Cambodian soldiers for firing first, and later accused them of a “targeted attack on civilians”, saying two BM-21 rockets had hit a community in Surin’s Kap Choeng district, wounding three people.

According to the Thai military, the clashes began around 7:35 am (0035 GMT) when a unit guarding Ta Muen temple heard a Cambodian drone overhead.

Later, six armed Cambodian soldiers, including one carrying a rocket-propelled grenade, approached a barbed-wired fence in front of the Thai post, the army said.

Thai soldiers shouted to warn them, the army said, but around 8:20 am, Cambodian forces opened fire toward the eastern side of the temple, about 200 metres from the Thai base. 

Thailand’s acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said “the situation requires careful handling, and we must act in accordance with international law”.

“We will do our best to protect our sovereignty,” he said.

Thailand’s embassy in Phnom Penh urged its nationals to leave Cambodia “as soon as possible” unless they had urgent reasons to remain, in a Facebook post.

Long-Running Row 

The violence came hours after Thailand expelled the Cambodian ambassador and recalled its own envoy in protest after five members of a Thai military patrol were wounded by a landmine. 

Wechayachai said an investigation by the Thai military found evidence that Cambodia had laid new landmines in the disputed border area — a claim denied by Phnom Penh.

On Thursday morning, Cambodia announced it was downgrading ties to “the lowest level”, pulling out all but one of its diplomats and expelling their Thai equivalents from Phnom Penh.

Recent weeks have seen a series of tit-for-tat swipes by both sides, with Thailand restricting border crossings and Cambodia halting certain imports.

The border row also kicked off a domestic political crisis in Thailand, where prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has been suspended from office pending an ethics probe over her conduct.

A diplomatic call between Paetongtarn and Hun Sen, Cambodia’s former longtime ruler and father of Prime Minister Hun Manet, was leaked from the Cambodian side, sparking a judicial investigation.

Last week, Hun Manet announced that Cambodia would start conscripting civilians next year, activating a long-dormant mandatory draft law.