The two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit began on August 31 in Tianjin, China. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China’s President Xi Jinping participated in the event. Following this, a video was posted on social media claiming that when Modi went to shake hands with Xi Jinping, the Chinese President pointed to his chair and said, “Go sit over there.”

See the Facebook video with this claim here.

Fact-Check

An investigation by the Rumor Scanner team found that the video is not from the recent event and the claim is false. In reality, the longer version of this video, which is from the 2024 BRICS summit, shows that as Modi extended his hand for a handshake towards Xi Jinping, Jinping gestured for Modi to move forward. Following this, the two heads of state shook hands and posed for the camera in front of their respective country’s flags.

An investigation into this matter found a match between the circulated video and a video published on the X account of the Indian news agency Asian News International (ANI) on October 23, 2024.

The caption of the video indicates that the scene is from a bilateral meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia.

Observing the ANI video, it shows Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi entering a room and extending his hand towards Chinese President Xi Jinping for a handshake. At that moment, Jinping signaled for Modi to move forward. Subsequently, the two heads of state stood in front of their respective country’s flags, shook hands with each other, and also posed for the camera.

In other words, the claim in question is not correct.

Furthermore, a video of the two leaders shaking hands at the recent SCO summit was also found on the YouTube channel of the international news agency Associated Press.

Therefore, an old video from a different event is being circulated with the claim of Narendra Modi not shaking hands with Xi Jinping at the SCO summit; which is false.