BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to attend the BRICS summit in New Delhi next month with a large delegation, sources said. The trip, if it takes place, would be Xi's first visit to India in seven years and a symbol of thawing ties between the two neighbors.
Reuters reported on the 25th, citing three Indian sources, that Xi is very likely to attend the summit in New Delhi on the 12th and 13th of next month. One source familiar with the preparations said Chinese officials were busy finalizing arrangements for hotels and security.
The delegation is expected to be sizable. Two other Indian sources said Xi could travel with about 400 officials, more than double the fewer than 200 who accompanied the Chinese delegation in 2019.
Xi skipped last year's BRICS summit in Brazil. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular briefing late last month that China places great importance on BRICS cooperation and takes an active part in it, but said she had no information to offer on whether Xi would attend.
Attention is focused on the possible visit because China and India have been moving quickly to repair relations. Ties deteriorated sharply after a 2020 military clash in the Himalayan border region left soldiers dead on both sides. Disputes over the boundary, investment restrictions and visa issuance followed, but Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China in August last year, his first in seven years, opened the way to a recovery.
Tensions over the border remain, however. Claims circulated recently on Indian social media that China was stepping up military activity in disputed areas. Indian authorities did not deny that friction had resurfaced along the border, while China said the situation there was broadly stable.
The two countries are also resuming high-level talks on the border. The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that special representatives on the China-India boundary question would meet in Beijing on the 25th for the first time in a year. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval are to discuss border management and ways to improve bilateral relations.
Reuters said India and China remain rivals, but that U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policies have created common ground, and that Xi's attendance would signal that neither side wants outside pressure to weaken BRICS.
