Chinese President Xi Jinping is arriving in India on Saturday to attend a summit. The visit could prove to be the most significant development toward a cautious improvement in relations between the two countries after years of tensions.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is arriving in India on Saturday to attend a summit. The visit could prove to be the most significant development toward a cautious improvement in relations between the two countries after years of tensions. According to Agency France-Presse (AFP), Xi Jinping’s visit to India for the BRICS summit on September 12 and 13 will be his first visit to India since October 2019. The visit comes after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi travelled to China in August 2025. The two nuclear-armed Asian countries have gradually improved their relations following a deadly border clash in 2020. Flights, some visas, and high-level contacts have gradually resumed. However, deep mistrust still remains. The disputed border in the Himalayas, India’s large trade deficit with China and the strategic rivalry between the two countries continue to complicate their relationship.
Here are five key things to know:
The clash along the Himalayan border in June 2020 fundamentally changed relations between the two countries. Twenty Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers were killed in the fighting in Ladakh.
In October 2024, Beijing and New Delhi agreed on arrangements for patrolling the border, paving the way for the resumption of political contacts.
However, the underlying territorial dispute remains unresolved, and both countries continue to deploy large numbers of troops along their roughly 3,500-kilometre (2,175-mile) high-altitude border with Tibet.
Pradeep Taneja, an expert on China-India affairs at the University of Melbourne, says that “when it comes to the border issue, they want quick and significant progress.”
He added: “You cannot increase your military presence along the border ... and at the same time say that we should continue with people-to-people and economic relations.”
The Dalai Lama is also living in exile in India. The Tibetan spiritual leader fled Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and sought refuge in India in 1959 after the Chinese military crushed an uprising.
According to Indian government data, China is now India’s largest trading partner. In the 2025–26 financial year, trade in goods between the two countries reached $151 billion.
However, the trade relationship is heavily tilted in China’s favour. India imported $131 billion worth of goods from China, while Indian exports to China stood at just $19 billion. As a result, India recorded a record trade deficit of $112 billion. The Modi government is promoting domestic production and seeking to reduce India’s dependence on China for machinery, electronics, chemicals and industrial components.
India and China are both members of BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). According to Pradeep Taneja, the “primary reason” for Xi Jinping’s visit to India, from Beijing’s perspective is to further strengthen BRICS as an “alternative institution” to global organisations dominated by the United States. However, despite this, the two countries are also rivals. India’s security partnership with the United States, including its participation in the so-called Quad security grouping alongside Japan and Australia, is a source of concern for China. On the other hand, New Delhi views China’s close relationship with Pakistan, India’s biggest rival, with concern. Ashok Malik of The Asia Group said: “The mere fact that President Xi is to India indicates that... although it may also be driven by the global unease created by the United States, the two countries want to maintain a workable relationship with each other.”
Relations between India and China have gradually improved since 2024. These steps include the resumption of trade between the two countries in the Himalayan border region, easing visa procedures, and allowing Indian citizens to resume an important Hindu pilgrimage to Mount Kailas in Tibet. Direct flights between the two countries, which had been suspended for more than five years, resumed in October 2025. Harsh V. Pant of India’s Observer Research Foundation said: “Relations are now being put back on the right track.” However, he added: “But this is more about stabilizing the relationship than bringing about any major or dramatic change.”
Modi and Xi Jinping last held formal bilateral talks in August 2025 on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin. The two leaders’ brief meeting at the SCO summit in Bishkek that same month also provided a public signal of improving relations. However, analysts remain cautious. Harsh V. Pant said: “There is a great deal of mistrust between India and China.” He added: “Unless there is a clear and visible change in Chinese behavior, there is very little likelihood that many people in India will accept the narrative of friendship between India and China.”
