Xi Jinping Meets PM Modi in Delhi, Says India and China Can Learn From Each Other

Chinese President Xi Jinping met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, in his first visit to India in seven years. The two-day trip comes as India hosts the summit, and the bilateral talks centred on border issues, trade and investment.

Welcoming Xi, PM Modi thanked him for his remarks at the summit and expressed gratitude for China's support and cooperation during India's BRICS chairmanship. He said the occasion offered an opportunity to discuss bilateral cooperation.

Xi said he had received the invitation to visit India on his birthday, June 15, and noted that the two leaders have met 21 times over the years, with those interactions guiding ties onto a path of steady development. He said China has always approached its relationship with India from a strategic and long-term perspective, and that despite differing national conditions, the two countries can learn from each other's strengths, support one another and pursue common development.

Describing China and India as the world's two most populous countries and important members of the Global South, Xi said both sides should keep the future of humanity in mind and work together as major countries. He called for an equal and orderly multipolar world and said neither side should privatise its own interests, adding that they should contribute to global peace, stability, development and prosperity.

The two leaders were expected to carry out a comprehensive review of bilateral relations and weigh new measures to expand engagement. The Line of Actual Control, the disputed and often contested frontier, was expected to be central to the discussions.

India has repeatedly stated that peace and tranquillity on the border are essential to the wider relationship, while China has traditionally held that the boundary dispute should be handled separately from other aspects of bilateral ties.

The meeting follows a series of high-level exchanges. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval held Special Representative talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing late last month, covering the delimitation of the frontier, trans-boundary cooperation and the need to maintain peace along the LAC. Doval and Wang are the designated Special Representatives for the India-China boundary negotiations, roles created in 2003 to seek a solution to the 3,488-km border dispute.