India-China ties: Join Mint webinar on “Power, Trade & the Global Order” to decode Tianjin smiles

Earlier this month, an unusual image emerged: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping sharing a laugh at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Tianjin, China. Was it just a fleeting moment, or a signal of a deeper shift in world politics?

With the US piling on tariffs and India caught between trade wars and energy deals, the symbolism was hard to miss. Is this the birth of an alternative global order—or simply optics in an increasingly fractured world?

In Mint’s second webinar in the “Power, Trade & the Global Order” series, we turn the spotlight on India–China relations. Are we seeing the beginnings of a genuine reset, or just a cautious recalibration after years of hostility? And how far can cooperation really go when old scars from the deadly clashes of 2020 still linger?

Join us as leading experts decode the possibilities, limits, and implications of this high-stakes engagement—and what it means for India, Asia, and the global order.

Register for Mint webinar here.

We will have two panellists to answer your questions:

Jabin T. Jacob is associate professor at the Department of International Relations and Governance Studies, and director of the Centre of Excellence for Himalayan Studies at Shiv Nadar University, Delhi National Capital Region.

He was formerly fellow and assistant director at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi and Associate Editor of the journal, China Report. Jacob holds a PhD in Chinese Studies from the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and has spent time as a student, researcher, and faculty in Taiwan, Singapore and France.

His research interests include Chinese domestic politics, China in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region, Sino-Indian border areas, Indian and Chinese worldviews, and centre-province relations in China.

Jacob’s latest publications included two co-edited special issues for the China Report journal on the Communist Party of China’s 100th anniversary (February and August 2022) and co-edited volumes titled, How China Engages South Asia: Themes, Partners and Tools (2023) and China’s Search for ‘National Rejuvenation’: Domestic and Foreign Policies under Xi Jinping (2020).

Nisha Taneja is a professor at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations. She is engaged in policy-oriented research focusing on regional trade in South Asia and East Asia on issues related to tariffs, services, investment, non-tariff measures, and trade and transport facilitation.

Taneja has led numerous research teams comprising national and international consultants in South and South-East Asia, and has served on various committees set up by the Indian government, and appointed advisor to the government of Nepal on trans-shipment. She has undertaken research projects at Icrier for the Indian government and various international organisations. She has published several research papers and books that have been disseminated in India and abroad at various policy, business and academic forums.

Moderator: Elizabeth Roche, Associate Professor, International Affairs, OP Jindal Global University

Elizabeth Roche joined the Jindal School of International Affairs after working as a journalist for almost three decades. She has worked as foreign affairs correspondent and editor across formats in a number of Indian and foreign media organizations, including Reuters TV, AFP, and Mint, where she helmed coverage of Indian foreign and defence policy for more than a decade as editor-foreign affairs.