Shafaqna Pakistan: Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in New Delhi on Saturday to attend the BRICS summit, joining the leaders of India, Russia and Iran as the bloc confronts divisions over war, trade and energy security.
The two-day gathering of the expanded 11-member grouping is expected to focus heavily on the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, growing global trade tensions and concerns over energy supplies.
Xi’s visit is also attracting particular attention as his first trip to India since 2019. The visit marks the latest and most significant development in a cautious effort by the two nuclear-armed neighbours to improve bilateral ties.
Xi was given a red-carpet welcome, with an guard of honour and traditional dancers in colourful dresses.
His arrival comes six years after a deadly 2020 military clash along their disputed Tibetan border, with ties gradually improving through restored flights, visas and high-level contacts.
Beijing said on Friday it was “ready to work with India… by strengthening communication, enhancing cooperation, and properly handling differences”.
The underlying territorial dispute remains unresolved, and both sides retain heavy military deployments along their roughly 3,500-kilometre (2,175-mile) high-altitude border along Tibet.
‘Substantial harvest’
Xi is due to hold face-to-face talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi later on Saturday, according to New Delhi’s foreign ministry.
“They are looking for ‘early and substantial harvest’ when it comes to the border issue,” said Pradeep Taneja, a China-India expert at the University of Melbourne.
“You cannot have a build-up 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, with their contested Himalayan frontier, a widening trade deficit, and strategic rivalry still complicating ties.
Modi embraced Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday before talks. Putin, who last visited India in December 2025, is one of New Delhi’s most important strategic partners.
India has navigated the energy crisis caused by the US-Iran war in part by turning to Russia, despite Moscow’s war in Ukraine and pressure from Washington and other Western capitals.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, also in New Delhi on Friday, said that pressure on Iran “has reached a critical and dangerous stage” following the “military aggression by the United States and Israel”.
Modi and Pezeshkian also held talks.
India maintains cordial relations with Iran and Israel, but is also careful to strike a delicate balance in its ties with Washington.
‘Big constraint’
Brics was created in 2009 as a forum for major emerging economies seeking greater influence in institutions dominated by Western powers.
Modi told leaders that Brics nations “represent 50% of the world’s population, 40% of global GDP, and more than 25% of global trade”.
As well as Iran, Brics includes Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — countries with sharply differing positions on the war launched by the United States and Israel in February.
UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi are also to attend.
Brazil is represented by Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva campaigning for a fourth term in October elections.
Brics foreign ministers failed to agree on a joint statement when they met in New Delhi in May.
“The Gulf conflict is going to be the central fault line this time during the Brics summit,” said Harsh V Pant of India’s Observer Research Foundation.
“What was seen until last year as an achievement — the expansion of Brics — today looks like a big constraint on Brics,” Pant said.
source: Geo News
