Xi Jinping to Visit India for BRICS Summit in First Trip in Seven Years
SCMP · 2 SOURCES43 minutes ago2 MIN
Summary
Chinese President Xi Jinping will travel to New Delhi this weekend for the BRICS summit, marking his first visit to India in nearly seven years . The trip comes as the two Asian neighbours work to mend ties following a deadly 2020 border clash in the Galwan Valley that killed at least 20 Indian and 4 Chinese soldiers . Xi is expected to hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the summit . The visit follows Xi's recent diplomatic travels to Kyrgyzstan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit and Egypt for his first state visit there in a decade . Russian President Vladimir Putin, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr will also attend the BRICS meeting .
Key Points
- Xi Jinping will attend the BRICS summit in New Delhi at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, making his first visit to India since 2019
- The two leaders held boundary talks in Beijing in August, agreeing to keep the frontier quiet and create new military communication channels
- At least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed during hand-to-hand combat in the Galwan Valley clash in 2020, the first deadly military confrontation since 1975
- India had banned popular Chinese mobile apps, widened vetting of business visas, and severed direct passenger air links following the border tensions
- The two sides have resumed direct flights since last October and restarted border trade last month, with the next round of boundary talks scheduled for India in 2027
Why It Matters
The BRICS summit marks a significant diplomatic thaw between the world's two most populous nations, both nuclear-armed, which share a roughly 3,800-kilometre disputed border in the Himalayas . China's foreign minister previously described the development of China-India ties as serving the interests of both countries and the Global South . Xi's visit also comes ahead of his expected trip to Washington later this month to meet President Donald Trump, making this weekend's meetings part of a broader recalibration of Beijing's diplomatic relations with major powers .
The BRICS summit marks a significant diplomatic thaw between the world's two most populous nations, both nuclear-armed, which share a roughly 3,800-kilometre disputed border in the Himalayas . China's foreign minister previously described the development of China-India ties as serving the interests of both countries and the Global South . Xi's visit also comes ahead of his expected trip to Washington later this month to meet President Donald Trump, making this weekend's meetings part of a broader recalibration of Beijing's diplomatic relations with major powers .