Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 11: Coming out in support for India which is holding the 18th BRICS summit in New Delhi a day ahead of President Xi Jinping’s visit, China on Friday said it was willing to work with India to handle relations “from a strategic height and long-term perspective” and that it valued the cooperation between the members of the organisation.
While underling that New Delhi and Beijing must resolve their differences properly and their ties would be looked from a strategic and long-term perspective, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told the media persons that members of BRICS have upheld the “spirit of openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation”, while adding that China “actively” called for cooperation among the members.
“China will work with India to act on the strategic guidance of the two leaders, handle bilateral relations from a strategic height and long-term perspective, step up communication and enhance cooperation, properly handle differences, and be friends enjoying good neighbourliness and partners helping each other,” she said.
Mr Xi will arrive in New Delhi on Saturday for the BRICS Summit. This will be his first India visit in around seven years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr Xi will on Saturday hold talks on the sidelines of this week’s BRICS Summit in New Delhi. This will be the third year in a row for the two leaders to meet with each other following meetings in Kazan and Tianjin. At the summit this weekend, Mr Xi will “put forward China’s important initiatives and propositions, charting the course for greater BRICS cooperation,” Ms Mao said.
Further, Mao said BRICS was a platform for emerging markets and developing countries to uphold solidarity and cooperation. “China will work with India to act on the strategic guidance of the two leaders, handle bilateral relations from strategic height and long-term perspective, step up communication and enhance cooperation to properly handle differences, and be friends enjoying good neighbourliness and partners helping each other,” Mao said.
“BRICS has stayed committed to upholding multilateralism, fairness and justice and seeking common development. It has grown into a real force standing at the forefront of the Global South,” she said.
“BRICS is now a key platform for emerging market developing countries to uphold solidarity and cooperation. Since its founding, BRICS countries have upheld the spirit of openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation. BRICS has stayed committed to upholding multilateralism, upholding fairness and justice and seeking common development. BRICS has grown into a real force standing at the forefront of the Global South,” she said.
In China, Mr Xi’s visit to India has been seen as both an opportunity to continue the gradual normalisation in bilateral relations as well as enabling greater cooperation between the two countries under the broader BRICS umbrella as their ties gradually improve. “One of the biggest highlights will be [President] Xi’s trip to India after seven years,” Wang Youming, an expert on China’s relations with developing countries at the China Institute daily on Friday.
“China and India are not only close neighbours but also founding members and major participants in BRICS. The state of their relationship has a direct bearing on the development of the mechanism. Multilateral platforms can create opportunities for bilateral engagement, while improving bilateral relations can, in turn, facilitate coordination within multilateral mechanisms.”
The main concern for New Delhi is the continuing tensions at the Line of Actual Control despite the disengagement process undertaken since October 2024. Since then, the two sides have come to agreements on patrolling arrangements in nearly all sectors of the confrontation as well as keeping buffer zones in some areas.
However, while the Western Sector, where clashes at Pangong Tso Lake and Galwan had sparked off the last standoff in 2020, the situation in the Eastern Sector in Arunachal Pradesh is more recently in focus. According to local reports, Indian Army and PLA forces remain at forward positions at the LAC in Taksing- with the PLA forces pitching tents at high positions, while Indian forces have mobilised more patrolling forces to the area after a brief confrontation in July.
During a meeting in Beijing last month between National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, both sides highlighted the positive impact of high-level leadership meetings on the trajectory of bilateral ties. PM Modi is also expected to underline New Delhi’s position that peace and tranquillity along the border remain critical to the broader development of India-China relations.
India and China had agreed in Kazan to restart high-level engagement following disengagement and the resolution of issues related to the eastern Ladakh military standoff. The two leaders had asked their Special Representatives on the boundary question to oversee the management of peace and tranquillity in the border areas and explore a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the boundary dispute.
Trade, export controls and investment issues will also be high on the agenda. Since 2014, India and China have doubled bilateral trade, from $70 billion to about $150 billion last year. However India’s trade deficit with China has trebled, from $38 billion to $113 billion in the same period. In addition, China’s recent on-again, off-again export bans on critical minerals and heavy infrastructure equipment. Despite India’s decision to ease security restrictions on Chinese Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) that were introduced in 2020, Beijing has been raising what it sees as discriminatory treatment of its businesses in India.
Last year, India and China resumed direct flights, while New Delhi eased visa procedures for Chinese business professionals. Notably, India-China border trade also resumed after a six-year hiatus this year. It had been halted in 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Border trade between India and China through the Lipulekh Pass began in 1992 and continued until 2019. On August 1, officials on the Chinese side allowed 16 traders and four support staff to cross into Tibet without goods as the two sides began restoring trade operations.
Cross-border trade through the strategically significant Nathula Pass in Sikkim has also officially resumed after remaining suspended for six years, reopening one of the prominent trading corridors along the historic Silk Road. The thaw, however, remains cautious. While both sides appear keen to restore economic and diplomatic engagement, the border remains the central test of whether the relationship can move from a tactical thaw towards a more durable normalisation.