Chinese drone show image edited with 'Welcome Modi' message

Published on September 5, 2025 at 11:10
3 min read
By Sachin BAGHEL, AFP India

As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi touched down in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin for his first visit to China in seven years, an image was shared in posts falsely claiming it showed an elaborate drone display for him. The picture in fact depicts a light show in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing that was edited to insert a fabricated "Modi Welcome to China" message.

"Modi welcome To China. China welcomes Indian PM Modi for the SCO Summit," reads part of the caption of an image shared on X on August 30, 2025.

It appears to show a drone display over a city, with the drones lit up to display the figure of a dancing woman and the face of the Indian prime minister next to the words, "Modi Welcome to China".

It surfaced after Modi touched down in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin to attend a gathering of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) -- sometimes touted as a counter to the Western-dominated NATO military alliance (archived link).

The visit was Modi's first to China since 2018.

China and India, the world's two most populous nations, are intense rivals competing for influence across South Asia and fought a deadly border clash in 2020. A thaw began in October when Modi met with Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time in five years at a summit in Russia.

Screenshot of the false X post captured on August 30, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

The same image was also shared in similar Instagram and X posts but it has been edited, and there have been no official reports of Modi being welcomed with a drone show.

A reverse image search on Google led to a similar photo published in an article by state news agency Xinhua on April 20 (archived link).

The photo is captioned, "A drone light show is pictured in Nan'an District of southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, April 19, 2025. The 15-minute drone light show, which features iconic city landmarks of Chongqing, made its debut on Saturday, presenting a visual feast along with a city lighting display."

Tianjin is approximately 1,400 kilometres (890 miles) from Chongqing.

The buildings seen in the video also match imagery from Baidu Maps and Google Maps of Raffles City Chongqing (archived here and here).

Screenshot comparison of the edited image (left) and the Xinhua photo (right)

Subsequent keyword searches led to a video of the full drone show posted on Xiaohongshu and a compilation posted by the Chongqing authorities on Douyin (archived here and here).

The videos show the figure of the dancer was not accompanied by any text.

A video posted on Modi's verified YouTube channel shows how the prime minister was greeted upon his arrival in China (archived link).

While the video's description says Modi received a "spectacular and unforgettable welcome", there is no footage of a drone display.

AFP has debunked more misinformation around the summit in Tianjin here and here.

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