Modi and Xi Jinping Hold Talks at BRICS Summit in New Delhi, Back Mutually Acceptable Border Settlement

Key facts

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the margins of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi, welcoming steady progress in India-China relations and committing to a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable resolution of the boundary question.
• Xi travelled to India for the first time in seven years, having last visited in 2019; the two leaders previously met at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Tianjin in August 2025.
• Modi emphasised that peace and tranquillity in border areas remains the essential basis for developing bilateral ties, that both sides should observe existing agreements on border-related issues, and that ties must be guided by mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest.
• India and China held their first round of military commander talks in the eastern sector in Arunachal Pradesh on September 6-7, amid fresh tensions in the Taksing region during July and August.
• India and China reached an understanding in October 2024 on disengaging troops at friction points in the Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control, ending a standoff of more than four years.
• India-China trade grew from about $93 billion in 2019 to $127 billion in 2025, while the trade deficit rose from $57 billion to almost $100 billion in the same period.
• The two leaders underlined the need to address structural trade imbalance, supply chain issues and market access facilitation, and to promote cultural exchanges, business linkages and greater mobility between the two countries.