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Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit India this weekend to attend the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, the Chinese government has confirmed, effectively ending days of diplomatic suspense.
“At the invitation of 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 in a statement.
Earlier in the day, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun declined to confirm Xi’s visit to New Delhi.
“I have no information to provide regarding the question you raised,” Guo Jiakun said in response to a question about whether the Chinese leader would travel to India this weekend to attend the BRICS leaders’ meeting.
The high-stakes visit will mark Xi’s first trip to India in seven years, following a chill in bilateral relations after the 2020 Galwan Valley border clashes, which killed 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese troops. Xi last visited India in 2019 for an informal summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mamallapuram near Chennai.
Xi first visited India in September 2014, during the first terms of both leaders in office. He later visited Goa in 2016 to attend the BRICS Summit.
Bilateral ties between the two countries have improved in recent years, particularly since Modi visited China last year, as both nations grapple with increasingly volatile relations with the US. New Delhi has since eased some restrictions on Chinese investment imposed following the 2020 clashes, particularly in the electronics, capital goods and solar-cell sectors.
China’s Foreign Ministry told Reuters that Xi and Modi, who briefly met this month at a regional forum in Kyrgyzstan, believe the two countries are “partners, not competitors, and they represent opportunities, not threats, for each other’s development”.
Sources told Reuters that proposed investments by Chinese companies in India are facing greater scrutiny from Beijing itself, including in sectors involving sophisticated manufacturing and high-end technology.
Despite this, bilateral trade between the two countries rose 12.4 per cent last year to a record $155 billion, more than double the $71.6 billion recorded 10 years earlier, according to Chinese customs data.
In the first seven months of this year, trade increased by a further 23 per cent compared with the same period a year earlier.