Xi Jinping to Attend BRICS Summit in New Delhi, First India Visit in Seven Years

Chinese President Xi Jinping will travel to India on Saturday to attend the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, his first visit to the country in seven years, China's foreign ministry announced on Thursday.

Xi is expected to hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the summit, which India is hosting as the current BRICS chair on September 12 and 13.

Security has been tightened at hotels in Delhi's Chanakyapuri area ahead of the arrival of the Chinese and Russian presidents later this week. Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to reach India on September 11.

Both leaders are expected to land at the Air Force Station in Palam before moving to hotels in Chanakyapuri. Security teams from China and Russia have already reached the hotels where the leaders will stay, carrying advanced weapons and security equipment, with personnel deployed from the floors reserved for the presidents up to the rooftops and ground floors.

The visit is seen as a high-profile diplomatic engagement with implications for efforts to stabilise ties between the two Asian powers. It also comes amid the West Asia conflict and the Russia-Ukraine war, which have lent greater significance to the BRICS grouping's role.

Xi last visited India in 2019 for an informal summit with Modi in Mamallapuram near Chennai. He attended the BRICS summit in Goa in 2016 and made his first visit to India in September 2014, when he held extensive talks with Modi during the first terms of both leaders.