China Monitor
The monitor features developments related to China during the month and is compiled by our research team of Amb. Biren Nanda, Senior Fellow, and Sanket Joshi, Research Associate, from open-source reports and publications.
India and China continued their high-level diplomatic engagements. On July 14, 2025, Foreign Minister Wang Yi and EAM Dr. S. Jaishankar met in Beijing on the margins of the SCO Foreign Ministers’ meeting. They reviewed the state of India-China relations and noted “progress in stabilising and rebuilding ties”, prioritising people-centred engagements, including activities to commemorate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama - the highest spiritual authority in Tibetan Buddhism - announced on July 2, 2025, that the process for recognising a future Dalai Lama had been established by a statement issued in 2011, which entrusts the task exclusively to the Gaden Phodrang Trust. He rejected any moves by China to influence the process of who succeeds the 14th Dalai Lama. Reacting sharply, China warned the Dalai Lama that his reincarnation must be approved by Beijing and that the succession must comply with Chinese laws and regulations.
The US and China held a new round of trade talks in Stockholm on July 28-29, 2025. The two sides described their dialogue as "constructive", but no significant breakthroughs were announced, and an extension of the 90-day tariff truce was agreed to. Earlier, on July 3, 2025, the US lifted export controls on electronic design automation (EDA) developers, permitting them to resume sales of chip design software to China.
On July 11, 2025, Foreign Minister Wang Yi met US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, in Kuala Lumpur on the margins of the ASEAN Plus Foreign Ministers’ meeting. Wang Yi described the meeting as constructive and said that it had enabled the two sides to “strengthen contact, prevent misjudgements, manage differences, and expand cooperation”.
Marking 50 years of China-EU diplomatic relations, President Xi met the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, in Beijing on July 24, 2025. Amidst a complex international situation, Xi urged Europe to keep the trade and investment markets open and refrain from using restrictive trade and economic measures.
Continuing the deepening trend of the China-Russia strategic partnership, Wang Yi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Beijing on the margins of the SCO Foreign Ministers’ meeting. Wang Yi reaffirmed Beijing's commitment to its relationship with Russia, describing this as stable and mature.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang attended the 17th BRICS Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 6, 2025. In his address, Premier Li expressed concerns about power politics and bullying, urging BRICS member states to maintain their strategic independence, act responsibly, and advance global governance reforms that would benefit the “Global South”.
During the second quarter of 2025, China's GDP grew by 5.2 percent year-on-year, while the country's overall economic growth in the first half of the year stood at 5.3 percent.
To read this China Monitor, Vol. VIII, Issue 7, please see the PDF attached.
