Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met on September 12, 2026, on the sidelines of the 18th BRICS Summit at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. The leaders agreed to work toward resolving their long-standing border dispute in what marks Xi’s first visit to India in seven years.
Border Talks and the Search for Resolution in New Delhi
The leaders of India and China agreed to work together towards resolving the contested border issue, according to the foreign ministry in New Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping met on Saturday on the sidelines of the summit of the BRICS group of emerging nations in New Delhi, serving as the biggest step yet in a cautious thaw between the nuclear-armed rivals that is being closely watched.
Although our two countries are different in many respects, they are fully capable of complementing each other’s strengths, supporting one another, achieving mutual success and advancing together,
Xi said in a video released from New Delhi as he met Modi. After the meeting, India’s foreign ministry said the two leaders expressed commitment to a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable resolution of the boundary question
. Modi underlined the need for both sides to observe existing agreements and understandings on border related issues,
the statement added.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that peace and tranquility
in the border areas is essential for developing bilateral relations with its neighbor China. Ties between the two countries, which had deteriorated sharply following a deadly border skirmish in 2020, have been thawing for more than a year and have led to Chinese President Xi Jinping making his first visit to India in seven years. During their bilateral meeting, on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit, Modi and Xi committed to a fair, reasonable, and mutually acceptable
resolution of the border issues, the Indian government said in a release. The two leaders agreed that both countries must take a strategic and long-term perspective of their ties
and not let differences become disputes.
Border issues between New Delhi and Beijing go back decades and saw the two countries go to war in 1962. However, last month, the two sides conducted the 25th round of talks and arrived at eight points of outcomes and consensus to resolve their long-standing border disputes. The trip comes six years after the deadly military clash along India and China’s disputed border, with ties gradually improving through restored flights, visas and high-level contacts. In June 2020, 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed in a hand-to-hand skirmish, and both countries stationed tens of thousands of troops along their disputed frontier in the northern Ladakh region following the violence. The underlying territorial dispute in the Tibet region remains unresolved and both sides retain heavy military deployments along their roughly 3,500km (2,175 mile) high-altitude border.
They are looking for ‘early and substantial harvest’ when it comes to the border issue,
Pradeep Taneja, a China-India expert at the University of Melbourne, said, as reported by the AFP news agency. You cannot have a buildup of your forces on the border … but at the same time say ‘we should continue to have people-to-people relations and economic relationships.’
Deep mistrust remains, however, with their contested Himalayan frontier, a widening trade deficit and strategic rivalry still complicating ties.
Economic Realities and Trade Imbalances
They pledged to build up their countries’ cultural, business and transport links, New Delhi said. On economic and trade relations, they underlined the need to address each other’s concerns, including structural trade imbalance and supply chain issues, and facilitation of meaningful and predictable market access,
it added. Xi said Beijing has always viewed and developed China-India relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, reported the state-run Xinhua news agency. Institutional exchanges between the two countries are gradually being restored, the list of areas for cooperation is growing and bilateral trade has reached a new high, Xi said, according to Xinhua.
Xi landed in New Delhi earlier on Saturday with his entourage, including Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and high-ranking Chinese Communist Party official Cai Qi. Border disputes and a trade imbalance that works deeply in favor of China have been at the center of disagreements between the two neighboring countries. China is India’s largest business partner, with total trade at a record $151.1 billion in the year ending March 2026. But New Delhi’s deficit with Beijing has also risen to a record $112.16 billion, up from $99.21 billion.
Ties between India and China have improved over the last year after Modi and Xi’s meeting in Tianjin last year. Direct flights have resumed between India and China, a few old Silk Road trade routes have opened, and in March India relaxed rules around investment from Beijing.
Modi and Xi Tout Mutual Trust and Respect
India-China relations are important for the people of our countries, and for regional and global peace and stability. Mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual sensitivity will guide bilateral relations,
Modi tweeted after meeting Xi. The two sides should strengthen communication and cooperation, properly handle divergences and differences, and realize each other's development dreams,
state broadcaster CCTV reported Xi as saying.
Modi and Xi had previously spoken briefly on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali in November 2022 and exchanged courtesies. They spoke again on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg in August 2023 but ended up releasing different versions of the conversation, indicating the two sides didn’t see eye to eye. Xi skipped the G20 summit hosted by New Delhi the following month, a decision seen as another setback to their relations.
Broader BRICS Summit Discussions and Global Challenges
Russia, holder of the rotating BRICS presidency and heavily sanctioned by the West, is using this year’s summit to demonstrate its role as a key global player in part by bringing together the leaders of the world’s two most populous countries. Putin said on Wednesday that over 30 countries have expressed the desire
to join the bloc which welcomed new members in 2023, with all six countries officially joining the bloc earlier this year. The process of forming a multipolar world order is underway, a dynamic and irreversible process,
Putin said at the opening of the summit in Kazan on Wednesday, adding that it would be wrong to ignore the unprecedented interest of the countries of the Global South and East in strengthening contacts with BRICS.
Putin also said the grouping would also discuss acute regional conflicts,
meaning the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in remarks that the bloc represents 40% of the world's humanity and about 30% of the economy.
BRICS has achieved many things in the last two decades. I am confident that in the coming times, this organization will emerge as a more effective medium to face global challenges,
he said. Modi also said he welcomed efforts to increase financial integration among members, stating that trading in local currencies and easy cross-border payments will strengthen economic cooperation.
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