NEW DELHI: The bilateral meeting between PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who will visit India for the Brics summit, is likely to take place between the Brics closed session on multilateralism and the dinner that Modi will host for the leaders at 7.30pm in which Xi will also be present.At the meeting, Modi is expected to underline India’s concerns about fair market access, supply chain reliability and balance in bilateral trade, as the two sides look to boost economic cooperation.There has been speculation over why Beijing delayed the announcement of the visit, but it’s learnt that China had formally conveyed to the Indian side Xi’s participation weeks earlier. On Aug 27, China officially requested Indian embassy in Beijing to issue visas to the president’s delegation.Xi’s visit is expected to reinforce the positive momentum in bilateral ties since the meeting between the leaders on the margins of Brics summit in Kazan in 2024, which marked complete disengagement and resolution of issues related to the 2020 eastern Ladakh military standoff.
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The leaders had agreed in Kazan to restart high-level engagements, calling upon Special Representatives on India-China boundary question to oversee the management of peace and tranquillity in border areas, which India calls a prerequisite for overall development of ties, and to explore a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the boundary question. They also agreed to maintain contact at the level of foreign minister and other senior officials.Since then, the special representatives have thrice held boundary talks, with the latest meeting in August this year resulting in eight outcomes that included a decision to finalise terms of reference for an early and substantial harvest of boundary delimitation and border management.Modi had visited China last year for the SCO summit, during which he had a bilateral meeting with Xi. That visit too reinforced the thaw in ties, with both leaders agreeing that India and China are partners, not rivals. Xi’s visit is important for Beijing as China assumes Brics presidency next year, succeeding India’s chairship. The president had not travelled to Brazil for the Brics summit last year.
