Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, September 12, on the sidelines of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi.
The much-anticipated bilateral meeting will come as India and China are set to meet each other and try and put relations back in place after years of tension between India and China over their border disputes.
China’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that Beijing and New Delhi are arranging a meeting between Xi and Modi during the Chinese president’s visit to India.
Beijing also has said that it will improve communication and cooperation with India, but that it will not be easy to resolve differences between the two countries.
It is Xi’s first visit to India in seven years, and it is important since it marks his first trip to India in seven years. His return comes after years of tense relations since the conflict in the 2020 Galwan Valley battle between Indian and Chinese troops.
Since then, both countries have resolved to de-escalate it in a number of ways including pulling back on parts of the disputed border and restoring a number of diplomatic and people-to-people links.
So the upcoming Modi-Xi meeting will be closely watched for signs of further progress in bilateral relations. Border stability, trade, investment and economic cooperation will be key issues to discuss.
India and China have also been slowly restoring direct connectivity and diplomatic engagement. India has started the way back with direct flights with China, and business visas and trade-related exchanges have also started to improve.
But major differences remain, especially over the border dispute and the large imbalance in bilateral trade.
The meeting will take place under the larger framework of the BRICS Summit in which leaders are talking about economic cooperation, investment, energy security, technology, supply chains and reforms to global financial institutions.
The expanded BRICS group now constitutes more than 40% of the world’s population and nearly a quarter of the world economy, making the summit highly geopolitical.
For India, the meeting also reflects New Delhi’s larger diplomatic strategy of maintaining engagement with major powers while protecting its strategic interests.
Prime Minister Modi has already had bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during the summit-related engagements.
Modi and Xi talks could provide both sides a chance to review the progress made since relations started to get better in the last few years and the possibility of a rekindling of tensions.
Any positive signals on border stability, trade and direct connectivity could have a much wider impact on the relationship between the two Asian powers.
The meeting is also watched internationally because India and China are two of the largest economies and influential members of BRICS.
If the talks are to be meaningful, it is the face-to-face talks that will shape the next phase of India-China relations.
With Xi Jinping back in New Delhi after seven years, all eyes are now on the Modi-Xi meeting and what it could mean for the future of ties between India and China.
