Xi Jinping India Visit Likely With Large Delegation After Seven Years

Xi Jinping – (Special Correspondent/Web Desk) – Chinese President Xi Jinping’s India visit is now looking likely, as he may travel to New Delhi next month for the Brics summit. This would be his first trip to India in seven years.

Three separate sources have shared this update. They say Xi could arrive with a very large team of officials by his side.

The Brics summit is set to take place from September 12 to 13 in New Delhi. India is hosting this year’s event as the current chair of the group.

If Xi does attend, people will be watching closely. His visit would say a lot about how China and India are working to fix their rocky relationship.

Ties between the two nations turned cold after deadly clashes along their shared border back in 2020. Since then, both sides have been trying, slowly, to rebuild trust.

One source close to the matter said Chinese officials are already busy. They are working out hotel bookings and security plans ahead of the trip.

Last year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his own trip to China. It was his first visit there in seven years too.

Even after that visit, progress between the two countries has been slow and careful. Neither side is rushing things.

Just recently, a new dispute broke out near the border. This led to some sharp words being exchanged between Chinese and Indian officials.

Despite this tension, two more sources say Xi is still likely to bring a huge delegation. Around 400 officials may travel with him this time.

That number is much higher than his last visit. In 2019, Xi brought fewer than 200 officials to India.

Officials from both India and China are expected to use this summit for more than just Brics talks. They may also explore ways to grow ties between the two nations.

At the same time, both sides know they still have serious issues to manage. The border dispute and regional security concerns remain unresolved.

So far, Xi’s exact travel plans are not locked in. It is also unclear if a private meeting between Xi and Modi will happen during the trip.

China’s foreign ministry gave a short response when asked about the visit. They said Beijing values Brics cooperation and supports India’s role as this year’s host.

However, the ministry did not confirm or deny anything about Xi’s actual travel plans. They simply said no details are available right now.

India’s foreign ministry has not made any public comment on the matter either.

It’s worth noting that Xi did not attend last year’s Brics summit, which was held in Brazil. His skipping that event raised a few eyebrows at the time.

India and China share one of the longest disputed borders in the world. It stretches close to 3,800 kilometers through the Himalayas and remains only partly marked.

For decades, that border stayed mostly peaceful. But the 2020 clashes changed everything.

That clash killed 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers. It was the deadliest fighting between the two nations in many years.

What followed was a tense four-year standoff between both militaries. It only eased after a disengagement deal was signed in October 2024.

Even now, peace along the border remains fragile. On August 12, India said keeping the border calm is key to improving overall ties.

This statement came after reports surfaced that Indian and Chinese army patrols had a tense face-to-face encounter. This happened in a remote border area in late July.

Just this week, India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval traveled to Beijing. He met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to talk about the border situation directly.

Their meeting shows that both countries are still trying to talk things through, even with tensions simmering underneath.

Outside of the India-China relationship, there’s another factor at play. The trade policies pushed by US President Donald Trump have created a shared concern for both nations.

This shared pressure from outside may actually be pushing India and China closer, at least within the Brics group. Neither country wants outside forces disrupting their plans.

So while India and China remain rivals in many ways, Xi’s possible visit shows both sides may want to keep talking, not shut each other out.

For now, the world will simply have to wait and see if Xi Jinping’s India visit actually happens as planned in September.