Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, Aug. 25: Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to visit India next month to attend the BRICS Summit in New Delhi, in what could mark his first trip to the country in seven years and a significant moment in the cautious recalibration of ties between the two countries.
India is scheduled to host the BRICS summit on September 12 and 13. While Beijing has yet to officially confirm Xi’s participation, three Indian sources cited by Reuters said the Chinese president is expected to attend the gathering with a sizeable delegation of around 400 officials. Chinese officials are reportedly already finalising hotel arrangements and security protocols for the potential visit.
If confirmed, Xi’s return to India would carry significance well beyond the BRICS agenda. His last visit was in October 2019, before relations between New Delhi and Beijing were profoundly strained by the deadly Galwan Valley clashes of June 2020. The confrontation triggered a prolonged military standoff along the disputed Himalayan frontier and sent bilateral ties to their lowest point in decades.
The two countries have since taken tentative steps toward stabilising relations. A disengagement agreement reached in October 2024 helped ease some of the military tensions along the Line of Actual Control, while high-level diplomatic contacts have gradually resumed. However, the relationship remains fragile, with unresolved territorial differences and periodic friction along the approximately 3,800-kilometre disputed border.
Xi’s possible visit comes as both sides intensify diplomatic engagement. India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is in Beijing for talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi under the Special Representatives mechanism on the boundary question.
A meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Xi on the sidelines of the BRICS summit could therefore provide an important barometer of the state of India-China relations. Beyond the border dispute, the two leaders are likely to confront broader questions surrounding regional security, trade, economic engagement, and the evolving geopolitical balance.
Xi’s potential appearance also comes against a backdrop of growing international uncertainty and heightened friction over US trade policies. Although India and China remain strategic competitors, both have an interest in ensuring that external pressures do not undermine the BRICS framework, which has increasingly emerged as a platform for major emerging economies to assert a greater role in global affairs.
The scale of the proposed Chinese delegation is itself noteworthy. Around 400 officials could accompany Xi, more than twice the number that travelled with him during his previous India visit in 2019. The unusually large contingent could underline Beijing’s desire to give the visit considerable diplomatic and political weight.
Yet expectations of a breakthrough should be tempered. Xi’s final travel plans and the agenda for any bilateral meeting with Modi have not been finalised, and Beijing has so far stopped short of publicly confirming his attendance. Xi missed the last BRICS summit in 2025 in Brazil. China’s Foreign Ministry has only reiterated its support for India’s hosting of the BRICS summit, while India’s foreign ministry did not comment.
