New Delhi, Sept. 10 -- After nearly seven years, Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to return to India this weekend, arriving in New Delhi on September 12 for the 18th BRICS Summit and a closely watched meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Confirmed by Beijing on Thursday, Xi's visit comes as the two Asian powers seek to steady ties after years of tension over the border, with the Modi-Xi talks expected to take stock of recent progress and efforts to resolve outstanding boundary issues.
"At the invitation of the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, Narendra Modi, President Xi Jinping will attend the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi from September 12 to 13," China's foreign ministry said.
Xi last visited India in October 2019, when he met Modi for an informal summit in Mamallapuram near Chennai. He had earlier travelled to Goa in 2016 to attend the BRICS summit and made his first visit to India in September 2014, during the first terms of both leaders.
Relations deteriorated sharply after the 2020 military standoff along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh. The Galwan Valley clash in June that year left 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese troops dead, taking bilateral ties to their lowest level in decades.
The four-year military face-off began to ease after India and China reached an understanding in October 2024 on disengagement at the remaining friction points of Depsang and Demchok. Modi and Xi met days later on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan and agreed to revive mechanisms for dealing with the boundary dispute and restoring normal relations.
Since then, the two sides have taken steps to rebuild contacts, including resuming direct flights and restarting the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. Diplomatic and military channels have also remained active to maintain peace and tranquillity along the LAC. In May, the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs reviewed the situation and noted progress in maintaining peace along the frontier.
The efforts gained further momentum in August when National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held the 25th round of Special Representatives' talks in Beijing. The two sides reached an eight-point consensus covering additional military meeting points, new hotline channels and the reopening of three designated border trading points. They also agreed to advance discussions towards an "Early and Substantial Harvest" on boundary delimitation and border management.
The two countries followed this with their first corps commander-level meeting in the eastern sector in Arunachal Pradesh on September 6.
New Delhi has continued to maintain that peace and tranquillity along the border are essential for broader normalisation. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar reiterated the position during his meeting with Wang in July, saying progress on the boundary remains a prerequisite for fully restoring bilateral ties.
Xi's presence is expected to make his meeting with Modi one of the most closely watched engagements at the summit.
He will join Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, with leaders expected to discuss global conflicts, trade, economic cooperation and other international issues, including the wars in West Asia and Ukraine.
India, the current BRICS chair, is hosting the summit under the theme "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability". The grouping has expanded to 11 major emerging economies, representing about 49.5 per cent of the world's population, around 40 per cent of global GDP and about 26 per cent of global trade.
BRICS discussions are expected to cover intra-group trade, payment systems, science and technology, climate change and reforms of multilateral institutions. India assumed its fourth BRICS chairship on January 1, having previously led the grouping in 2012, 2016 and 2021. The year 2026 also marks 20 years since BRICS was established.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.