Xi May visit India with nearly 400 officials
Xi Jinping first visited India in 2014. Picture:Reuters
Chinese President Xi Jinping may attend the BRICS summit scheduled to be held in New Delhi on September 12 and 13 as China and India work to normalize relations. Three sources told Reuters this information. If Xi visits Delhi, it would be his first visit to India in seven years. It would also be seen as another major sign of a thaw in relations between the two countries following the 2020 border clash. However, the visit would take place amid longstanding border disputes and differences over regional security.
An Indian source directly familiar with the matter told Reuters, “Chinese officials are busy finalizing hotels and security arrangements.”
Last year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China for the first time in seven years. Relations between the two countries have continued to improve gradually since then. However, the two sides have recently exchanged sharp diplomatic statements following renewed disputes over the border.
Two other Indian sources said a delegation of nearly 400 officials could accompany Xi. The number was fewer than 200 during his last visit to India in 2019.
The sources said officials from the two countries are expected to discuss how to increase mutual engagement while managing their longstanding border dispute and differences over regional security.
However, the sources said Xi’s final itinerary and the agenda for a possible bilateral meeting between India and China have not yet been finalized.
China’s Foreign Ministry said, “China attaches great importance to BRICS cooperation and actively participates in it. We support India, the current chair, in successfully hosting this year’s BRICS summit.”
Xi did not attend the most recent BRICS summit held in Brazil in 2025.
India and China are the world’s two most populous countries and both are nuclear powers. The two countries share a nearly 3,800-kilometer-long border in the Himalayan region. Most of the border remains unmarked and disputed.
The border remained relatively peaceful for decades. However, that changed with the 2020 clash. Twenty Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers were killed in the clash. The incident led to a four-year standoff between the militaries of the two countries. An agreement on troop disengagement was reached in October 2024.
However, India said on August 12 that maintaining peace along the border is extremely important for normalizing relations between the two countries. Earlier reports said Indian and Chinese patrol teams had faced off in a remote area along the border in late July.
Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval began a visit to Beijing on Monday to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi for talks on the border dispute.
Source: Reuters (Adapted)
