Two of the world's most populous nations, long shadowed by border disputes and mutual suspicion, are choosing once again to meet at the table rather than the frontier. At the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi will hold their third consecutive annual meeting — a quiet but consequential rhythm that diplomats and scholars read as a deliberate commitment to coexistence. The machinery of normalization, from restored flight routes to resumed border trade, suggests that both nations have decided the cost of estrangement outweighs the comfort of grievance.
Xi, Modi to meet at BRICS summit as China-India ties stabilize
Leaders able to meet almost every year, mechanisms gradually resuming
Mark
So they're meeting again. Is this actually significant, or is it just the diplomatic calendar doing its thing?
Mimi
It's significant because it's regular now. Three years in a row—that's not accident. After the border clashes, after the tensions, the fact that they're meeting annually and that mechanisms are actually resuming suggests both sides have decided the relationship is worth the work.
Luke
But let's be precise about what we know. We know they're meeting. We know trade is up and flights are resuming. We don't actually know what they'll discuss or what they'll commit to. The border remains disputed.
Mimi
True, but the special representatives have been talking since 2024. That's not nothing. They're managing the border issue separately from the broader relationship.
Mark
What does "managing differences" actually mean in practice?
Mimi
It means they're not letting one problem—the border—freeze everything else. Trade continues, people can fly between countries, and the leaders can sit down without it being a crisis summit.
Luke
The trade number is real—$155 billion in 2025. But we should note that's two-way trade, and we don't have a breakdown of what that means for each country or whether it's actually growing faster than it would have without the tensions.
Mimi
Fair point. But the reopening of border trade after six years is concrete. That's a specific thing that stopped and is now restarting.
Mark
What's the risk here? What could go wrong?
Luke
The border is still disputed. One incident, one military miscalculation, and all this careful work could unravel. The article doesn't address what happens if tensions flare again.
Mimi
That's why the regular meetings matter. They're building a relationship that can absorb friction. It's not a solution to the border question, but it's a way of saying the border question doesn't have to define everything.
Mark
So this meeting in New Delhi—what should we actually watch for?
Mimi
Watch what they say about the border. Watch whether they announce new trade initiatives. Watch whether other BRICS members see this as a model for their own relationships.
Luke
And watch whether this holds. One summit is a moment. The real test is whether this becomes the new normal or whether it's a temporary thaw.
Der Puls
- Years of border tensions and suspended ties created a diplomatic freeze that left two nuclear-armed neighbors with few channels for managing their differences.
- The resumption of direct flights, border trade after a six-year halt, and $155 billion in two-way trade signal that the thaw is no longer tentative — it is structural.
- A third consecutive leaders' meeting breaks the pattern of crisis-driven diplomacy, replacing it with something rarer between rivals: predictable, institutionalized dialogue.
- Working-level officials in both capitals are watching closely, as a summit meeting functions as a mandate — signaling whether to pursue cooperation or brace for confrontation.
- The international community, particularly the Global South, is reading this relationship as a test case for whether major developing powers can manage rivalry without letting it metastasize.
Two of the world's most populous nations, long shadowed by border disputes and mutual suspicion, are choosing once again to meet at the table rather than the frontier. At the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi will hold their third consecutive annual meeting — a quiet but consequential rhythm that diplomats and scholars read as a deliberate commitment to coexistence. The machinery of normalization, from restored flight routes to resumed border trade, suggests that both nations have decided the cost of estrangement outweighs the comfort of grievance.
China's Foreign Ministry confirmed that President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet at the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi — their third consecutive annual encounter, a regularity that experts say marks a genuine shift in how both nations are choosing to manage their complicated relationship.
Spokeswoman Mao Ning outlined Beijing's framing with careful diplomatic language: strengthen communication, expand cooperation, manage differences, and position both countries as neighbors invested in each other's success. The phrasing was formal, but its direction was clear. Lin Minwang, a South Asian studies professor at Fudan University, noted that the very consistency of these meetings signals something meaningful. Special representatives on the boundary question have maintained regular talks since 2024, and bilateral mechanisms that had gone dormant are gradually coming back to life.
The numbers behind the relationship have also shifted. Two-way goods trade exceeded $155 billion in 2025 — a 12.4 percent increase — while five direct flight routes between mainland China and India have been restored and border trade has reopened after six years of suspension. China's Ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, framed these developments in an article for The Hindu as evidence that the relationship has moved beyond crisis management into something more durable.
For officials at working levels in both governments, a leaders' summit functions as a signal about priorities. Su Xiaohui of the China Institute of International Studies described the meeting as two major developing countries demonstrating the importance they place on each other — and on steady, managed improvement rather than confrontation. The tensions between China and India have not disappeared, but both nations appear to have decided that the architecture of engagement is worth building, even while differences remain real and unresolved.
China's Foreign Ministry confirmed on Friday that President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet during the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, continuing a pattern of annual high-level engagement that experts say signals both nations' determination to stabilize their relationship after years of tension.
Spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing that China is prepared to work with India under the strategic direction of both leaders, approaching their bilateral relationship with a long-term perspective. She outlined the framework: strengthen communication, expand cooperation, manage differences carefully, and position themselves as neighbors who contribute to each other's success. The language was measured and formal, the kind of diplomatic phrasing that carries weight precisely because it commits both sides to a direction.
This will mark the third consecutive year Xi and Modi have held talks. They met previously in Kazan, Russia, and in Tianjin, China, where Xi described the relationship as a "cooperative pas de deux of the dragon and the elephant"—a phrase that captured something both poetic and practical about two large powers learning to move together. Lin Minwang, a professor of South Asian studies at Fudan University's Institute of International Studies in Shanghai, said the regularity alone signals a shift. "The leaders are now able to meet almost every year," he noted. "The two countries' special representatives on the boundary question have maintained regular talks since 2024, and major bilateral mechanisms are gradually resuming."
The machinery of diplomacy has restarted. During the 25th round of talks between special representatives in Beijing in August, both sides reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining peace and stability along their border—a commitment that creates space for other forms of progress. Trade numbers tell part of the story: two-way goods trade exceeded $155 billion in 2025, a 12.4 percent increase from the previous year. More tangibly, five direct flight routes between mainland China and India have been restored, and border trade has reopened after a six-year suspension. These are not symbolic gestures. They are the infrastructure of normalized relations.
China's Ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, highlighted these practical developments in an article published in The Hindu newspaper on Monday, framing them as evidence that the relationship is moving beyond crisis management. For officials working at lower levels in both governments, a leaders' meeting sends a clear signal about priorities. Lin said it demonstrates that both governments intend to continue improving relations and that working-level officials should pursue greater cooperation and stable management of differences rather than confrontation.
Su Xiaohui, director of the Department for Developing Countries Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, emphasized what the meeting represents: two major developing countries signaling the importance they attach to each other and the steady improvement in their ties. She added that the international community will be watching how China and India manage their differences while pursuing common development—a formulation that acknowledges the tensions remain real, even as both nations work to contain them.
The BRICS Summit in New Delhi will be the stage for this meeting, a multilateral forum where bilateral relationships play out alongside broader questions about the role of developing economies in global affairs. What happens in that room, and what both leaders say afterward, will shape how officials in both capitals interpret their mandate for the year ahead.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
China stands ready to work with India, under the strategic guidance of the two leaders, to approach and handle bilateral relations from a strategic and long-term perspective.— Mao Ning, China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman
The leaders are now able to meet almost every year. The two countries' special representatives on the boundary question have maintained regular talks since 2024, and major bilateral mechanisms are gradually resuming.— Lin Minwang, professor of South Asian studies at Fudan University
Möchten Sie die ganze Geschichte?
Das Original lesen bei chinadailyasia.com ↗
Politics & Governance