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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to hold his most closely watched bilateral meeting of the BRICS Summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday, as the two leaders seek to consolidate a fragile thaw in India-China ties and address their unresolved border dispute, people familiar with the matter said.
Xi’s visit to India will be his first in seven years and comes after the two countries took steps to ease tensions following their prolonged military standoff in Ladakh.
Modi and Xi agreed on measures to normalise ties and build confidence when they met in October 2024, shortly after India and China reached an understanding to end the Ladakh standoff. Since then, the two sides have resumed direct flights, revived the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and restarted border trade through three designated routes.
The upcoming meeting will give the leaders an opportunity to assess progress in restoring bilateral relations and discuss the border dispute, particularly after reports of fresh tensions between Indian and Chinese troops at Taksing in Arunachal Pradesh, the people said.
Xi last visited India in 2019, months before the military confrontation in Ladakh began. The standoff lasted more than four years and pushed bilateral ties to their lowest level in six decades.
Modi is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit.
Modi met Putin and Pezeshkian at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Kyrgyzstan on Aug 31. Their meetings in India are expected to focus on bilateral relations and global issues, including the war in Ukraine and the conflict in West Asia.