Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in New Delhi on Saturday to attend the 18th BRICS Summit, marking his first visit to India in seven years. His presence at the summit has set the stage for a closely watched India-China engagement on the sidelines of the major multilateral gathering.
Xi's entourage includes close associate Cai Qi, who is a member of the high-powered Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, and Wang Yi, Foreign Minister and member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with Xi, which experts say could provide an opportunity to further advance bilateral ties and inject fresh momentum into BRICS cooperation.
The meeting comes as India and China seek to stabilise relations following the bitter border standoff between the two countries’ militaries along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in 2020.
Bilateral relations have improved in recent years, with the two countries taking steps to restore direct flights, ease visa arrangements and increase high-level diplomatic engagements.
Xi’s visit marks his first trip to India since his informal meeting with Modi in Mamallapuram in 2019, during the second India-China Informal Summit.
The proposed Modi-Xi meeting is being closely watched in diplomatic circles, particularly against the backdrop of multiple global crises, including the Russia-Ukraine war, the conflict in West Asia and continuing trade tensions.
Recently, India’s Ambassador to China, Vikram Doraiswami, made a strong case for using India’s BRICS presidency to deepen cooperation between the two Asian powers.
“Last year, President Xi Jinping told Prime Minister Modi that China and India are cooperation partners, not rivals, and that the two countries are each other’s development opportunities rather than threats. This perspective is in keeping with the long history of mutually beneficial contact between our two civilisations,” Doraiswami wrote in the Chinese state-run newspaper Global Times.
On Friday, Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong expressed similar sentiments, saying China intends to follow the framework established by the two leaders.
“China will work with India to act on the strategic guidance of the two leaders, handle the bilateral relations from a strategic height and long-term perspective, step up communication, enhance cooperation, properly handle differences, and be friends enjoying good-neighborliness and partners helping each other succeed,” Feihong wrote on X.
Modi and Xi met recently in Bishkek, where the two leaders exchanged a handshake ahead of a photo session at the SCO Summit. No bilateral meeting was scheduled on that occasion.
Experts have expressed optimism about the meeting scheduled for September 12 in New Delhi.
Atul Dalakoti, executive director of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s China branch, told PTI that the two leaders had demonstrated “good chemistry” during their previous meetings and that their interactions had generally produced positive outcomes.
"My sense is that whenever these two leaders met, and they met many times, the outcomes have always been very good. So, they have a good chemistry, a personal chemistry. India has worked hard for the BRICS presidency of this year. And next year, it is China's turn," he said.
