India and China Should Be Partners, Says Beijing After Xi-Modi Talks

Beijing has said it will work with New Delhi to carry forward the "important common understandings" reached between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a day after Xi concluded his first visit to India in seven years.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson noted that Modi has described India's foreign policy as independent and has said India will not permit any force to use its territory for anti-China activities. The spokesperson said China values those remarks.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, summing up the two-day visit for the BRICS Summit and the bilateral meeting, said the two leaders held a candid and in-depth exchange on strategic, long-term and directional issues in the relationship. The most important consensus they reached, he said, was that China and India should be partners.

According to Wang, Xi said the two countries can draw on each other's strengths, support one another, help each other succeed and pursue common development. The leaders agreed to jointly maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas, and to back each other's chairmanship of BRICS.

Wang said the border question should be viewed in proper perspective within the wider bilateral relationship, and that Modi responded positively, affirming that India has always approached ties with China from a strategic and long-term standpoint.

The two sides also agreed to strengthen coordination in multilateral frameworks including the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the G20, advance cooperation across the Global South, and promote a more multipolar world order. Wang said the improvement in relations has been welcomed by more than 2.8 billion people in both nations and represents an essential pillar of Global South cooperation. China takes over as BRICS chair for 2027.

After the bilateral meeting, Modi expressed confidence that the talks marked the beginning of a new chapter in ties. New Delhi stressed that future relations must be guided by mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest, while reaffirming that differences should not become disputes.

As Xi arrived in New Delhi on Saturday morning, China Southern Airlines announced the resumption of regular passenger services on the Guangzhou-New Delhi route from September 21, ending a six-year gap. The move follows a broader understanding between the two countries after the border agreement of October 2024. Direct flights had been suspended after the Covid-19 pandemic and tensions following the Doklam and Galwan standoffs; the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra also resumed in 2024.

The two sides had agreed on steps to ease tensions after the Modi-Xi meeting in September 2025, having earlier met in Kazan in 2024. Saturday's was their third meeting since the breakthrough in ties. Xi was accompanied on the visit by Wang and Cai Qi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party's Political Bureau.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Monday that the BRICS Summit in India reflected the "strong convening power of Modi's India", noting that most delegations were represented at the level of head of state or head of government. He cited the presidents of Russia, China, Iran, South Africa, Indonesia and Egypt, along with the Abu Dhabi crown prince and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, and said all of them had a strong personal rapport with Modi.